FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin made one change to the side that drew 1-1 with Bayer Leverkusen, Noah Weißhaupt getting the nod over Connor Metcalfe, who began on the bench. In Justin Njinmah for Oliver Burke, Werder boss Ole Werner also made one adjustment from the 1-0 home win over VfL Bochum. With Heidenheim winning by the only goal at Stuttgart on Friday evening, the onus was on the Boys in Brown to secure their first Bundesliga victory at Bremen, a result that would restore the eight-point cushion to 16^th place and rule out the possibility of going down automatically. Werder, for their part, went into the game chasing a fifth win in succession to go level on points with sixth-placed Dortmund and keep alive their dream of qualifying for Europe for the first time in 15 years.

In ideal conditions for football the two teams made a bright start and it was the hosts who fashioned the first chance with four minutes on the clock. Mitchell Weiser met Marvin Ducksch’s lay-off first time just inside the box, but his angled effort fizzed some distance wide of the far post. The response was not too long in coming. In the eighth minute, Philipp Treu played a one-two with Danel Sinani in the box but was denied by Michael Zetterer from a tight angle. And less than 120 seconds later, Carlo Boukhalfa latched onto a long ball forward and slid a shot past the Werder keeper. Unfortunately, he was a shade offside and the goal was disallowed. The Blessin XI knocked the ball around with assurance and made frequent forays into the final third, ensuring it was Sinani who had the next chance. His long-range effort took a deflection, however, allowing Zetterer to gather without too much difficulty.

Werder were largely anonymous up front during the opening exchanges thanks to the high press deployed by Blessin’s side. Jens Stage did have an opportunity on 26 when he was allowed too much space from a Ducksch free-kick, but his sliding effort cleared the bar by some distance. With the home side tightening things up at the back, the attacking opportunities began to dry up slightly. On 36, however, Morgan Guilavogui collected a long ball forward and tried to tee up the advancing Treu, who would have been clean through, only to overhit the pass. At the other end, the home fans were celebrating when Stage fired into the bottom left corner from ten metres, but like Boukhalfa before him he was narrowly offside and the goal was chalked off. Boukhalfa had another go just before the break, but his effort from outside the box was way too high.

Werder  came flying out of the traps and, as in the first half, created the opening opportunity. Niklas Stark was allowed far too much space in the danger area from a Ducksch free-kick, but Nikola Vasilj pulled off a brilliant stop to keep out the header. The Boys in Brown hit back with two chances in quick succession. First, Weißhaupt had an effort from ten metres blocked at the last moment, and then David Nemeth angled a shot wide of the far post from outside the box. Back at the other end, Bremen got the ball forward quickly to send Njinmah clear, but Vasilj was alert to the danger and made a decent save. Within 60 seconds, the same player slid a shot just wide of Vasilj’s post.

Blessin made his first chance soon after, introducing Elias Saad for Noah Weißhaupt in an attempt to add more attacking impetus. His team continued to struggle to create chances, however, but in the 71sst minute Saad went to ground in the box under a challenge from Werder captain Marco Friedl, only for referee Tobias Reichel to wave play on. The initial contact may have been within the rules but the second caught Saad on the leg and Bremen could have had no complaints if a penalty had been given.

With the game entering the final quarter of an hour Blessin threw on Robert Wagner and Connor Metcalfe for Carlo Boukhalfa and Danel Sinani. Four minutes later, the home side thought they had broken the deadlock after a quickfire break and some excellent work by Romano Schmid saw substitute Oliver Burke curl a shot beyond Vasilj, but for the third time on the day the goal was ruled out for a narrow offside. Towards the end both teams lacked the punch required to win it, and after Metcalfe had been sent off for two bookable offences in stoppage time, the game ended in a stalemate.

SV Werder Bremen

Zetterer - Stark, Friedl, Pieper - Weiser, Lynen (Bittencourt 80’), Agu (Köhn 80’) - Stage, Schmid - Njinmah (Burke 69’), Ducksch (Grüll 87’)

Head coach: Ole Werner

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Nemeth, Wahl, Van der Heyden (Ritzka 88’) - Saliakas, Boukhalfa (Wagner 75’), Smith, Treu - Sinani (Metcalfe 75’) - Guilavogui (Eggestein 88’), Weißhaupt (Saad 62’)

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Yellow cards: Bittencourt –  Saliakas, Metcalfe

Red card: Metcalfe (second yellow 90’+2)

Referee: Tobias Reichel (Sindelfingen)

Attendance: 42,100 (sold out)

Photos: FC St. Pauli / Witters