Irvine goal in vain as Pauli loses again
Australia's Jackson Irvine was on the scoresheet again for St Pauli, but his strike was too little too late as his side fell to a 4-3 defeat at home against Elversberg, failing to regain top spot in 2. Bundesliga from Holstein Kiel after a second straight league defeat.
Kiel went top after thrashing Osnabruck 4-0 the day before this match, putting the pressure back on Pauli with five games remaining. But the hosts were left to swallow the bitter pill of a first home defeat in a year.
Things started well enough for Pauli when Johannes Eggestein pushed home from close range, but Maurice Neubauer equalised shortly after the restart.
Although Marcel Hartel gave Pauli the lead for a second time, the advantage lasted just 60 seconds as Joseph Boyamba drew Elversberg level once again.
In the final 10 minutes, Paul Wanner completed the comeback via the help of the post, before Huge Vandermersch added a fourth after a lightning quick counterattack.
Irvine pounced on a poor Elversberg clearance to score in stoppage-time, but there wasn't enough time left to get anything more from the game.
Despite the defeat, Pauli remains five points above third, while Elversberg is comfortable in mid-table.
"We just weren't good in lots of areas," Socceroos star Irvine lamented after the match.
"We lost possession far too easily, our pressing wasn't good and neither was our coverage against the counter-attack. It's one of the hardest results to take, a year after our last home defeat.
"We're all very disappointed, but we have to accept that we weren't good enough today. We have to do better in the last five games, get back the belief that we deserve to be up there and reproduce the level we've shown all season.
"Elversberg pressed very well, but we have to find solutions to that. We had a good spell with some good chances – in the end it comes down to the details."
