Irvine's goal not enough as St Pauli tastes defeat
Jackson Irvine couldn't hide his disappointment as St Pauli lost 2-1 at Karlsruher despite the Australia international scoring for the 2. Bundesliga leader.
Pauli captain Irvine powered home a header from a Marcel Hartel's corner to level matters on 37 minutes after the hosts had got off to a fast start when Marcel Franke scored inside the first two minutes of the match.
The Socceroos star thought it he had put Pauli ahead in the early minutes of the second period, smashing the ball home off a post, but VAR ruled otherwise because Aljoscha Kemlein had strayed offside during the build-up.
Karlsruher rode its luck and took full toll in the 69th minute when Paul Nebel scored what would be the winner, leaving the visitors to swallow only their third defeat of the season as it was reduced to 10 men when Hauke Wahl was sent off with 13 minutes remaining.
"We had the game completely under control but conceded far too easily when we lost the ball in a central position," Irvine lamented after the match.
"It always comes down to details when games are as tight as this was. We have to work on that and do better. I don't know if all the big calls were right today. We're obviously disappointed but we played some good stuff, so we'll keep calm and [promotion is] still in our own hands."
St Pauli leads germany second tier by four points from Holstein Kiel in second, which thumped 10-man Nurnberg 4-0 in a thoroughly dominant performance.
Third-placed Hamburger SV also grabbed a 2-1 win when it hosted Kaiserslautern, and still has the top two to play before the season is out, with Holstein Kiel visiting on 21 April (AEST) and Pauli also making the trip two weeks later on 4 May (AEST).
