Goals from Erencan Yardımcı and his replacement Thierry Tazemeta either side of an Abdoulie Ceesay strike proved enough for Torsten Lieberknecht’s men to claim all three points, with a resolute defensive display from the back three and goalkeeper Julian Krahl ensuring they held on for victory.
It was the hosts who began on top, enjoying the majority of possession in the early stages, though they struggled to seriously test Krahl in the Kaiserslautern goal. Louis Oppie found a promising opening after 17 minutes when he combined with Martijn Kaars, but his effort was dealt with comfortably by the visiting goalkeeper.
Despite St. Pauli’s bright start, it was Kaiserslautern who struck first on the half-hour mark. Semih Şahin’s shot was heading towards goal with goalkeeper Ben Voll already moving to make the save, but Yardımcı intervened, collecting the loose ball inside the area before slotting into the empty net to score his first goal for the club and give the visitors a 1-0 lead against the run of play.
St. Pauli continued to dominate proceedings as Kaiserslautern dropped deeper, though the hosts struggled to find a way through. The ball fell to Branimir Hrgota just outside the area five minutes before half time, but Krahl produced another fine stop, this time with his feet, to deny the forward and ensure FCK took their lead into the break.
Lieberknecht made a change at half time, introducing Tazemeta for Yardımcı, and the substitute made an immediate impact barely a minute after the restart. Jacob Rasmussen played Tazemeta through down the right, with the forward beating two players before driving into the area and finishing from a tight angle to double Kaiserslautern’s advantage.
St. Pauli responded just eight minutes later, with substitute Abdoulie Ceesay making an instant impact of his own. Taichi Hara drove towards the byline before squaring across the face of goal, allowing Ceesay to tap home just a minute after coming on and halve the deficit at 2-1.
The hosts continued to push forward from there, but encountered the same problems in the final third as they had before the break, while Krahl remained in fine form between the posts. Hrgota tried his luck from a free kick with 15 minutes remaining, but the goalkeeper was on hand to deal with it comfortably as frustration began to grow among the home supporters.
Kaiserslautern reverted to their defensive approach as the game entered its final stages, sitting deep and looking to protect their narrow advantage. St. Pauli once again struggled to break through the visitors’ defensive block, and as the three minutes of stoppage time passed, Kaiserslautern held on to secure an impressive away victory.
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