Pauli misses Irvine and chance to guarantee safety
St Pauli is still waiting to confirm its Bundesliga survival after Nick Woltemade scored an 88th-minute winner at Millerntor to give Stuttgart the win and leave Jackson Irvine's side waiting nervously for the next round of fixtures.
With the injured Australia star on the sidelines having had surgery last week on a foot injury that will also rule him out of the Socceroos' crucial FIFA World Cup qualifyiers in Perth against Japan and in Jeddah against Saudi Arabia in June, St Pauli suffered further pain with two red cards against Stuttgart.
Goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj was shown two yellow cards in quick succession and a subsequent red in the 96th minute, following teammate Siebe Van der Heyden down the tunnel after he had been dismissed for a second booking in the 57th minute.
That led to a penalty, which Vasilj saved from Woltemade's attempt, but the Stuttgart striker would exact revenge before Vasilj saw red.
Pauli is five points clear of the relegation play-off spot, but still not mathematically safe. It faces a trip to Eintracht Frankfurt next weekend before finishing its season at home against already relegation Bochum, and would expect to the one positive result it needs to stay up from those matches.
After three games without a win, Stuttgart is back in the winners' circle and remains an outside chance of a place in European competition next season.
It sits in 10th spot, six points off the top six with two matchdays remaining, but will need results from other matches to go its way if it is to sneak into the European picture.
