St Pauli 1-1 Ingolstadt

TWO goals in the space of a minute shortly after the start of the second half allowed this quality-lacking 2. Bundesliga contest between St Pauli and Ingolstadt to finish level. While the home side did most of the attacking, with Ingolstadt looking to play on the break, consistently terrible finishing and woeful passing in the final-third cost St Pauli any hope of winning this game. They fell behind in the 55th minute when the lively Caiuby crossed for Christian Eigler to score at the near post. A minute later, though, Ingolstadt ruined all the good work they had done defensively up to that point by allowing home debutant Florian Moht a free header to make it 1-1. Coach Tomas Oral seemingly played for a point at the Millerntor-Stadion, so will probably be happier than his opposite number André Schubert, who has already stated his intention to bring more quality players to St Pauli before the transfer window closes. His side and Oral’s have now drawn both of their 2012/13 2. Bundesliga games, and the two coaches will be hoping ties against regional sides in the cup next weekend will give their respective players a chance to sample what winning feels like.

Match preview here.

Starting formations

St Pauli (4-4-2, from right to left, brown shirts): Philipp Tschauner; Jan-Philipp Kalla, Florian Mohr, Markus Thorandt, Florian Kringe; Florian Bruns, Dennis Daube, Fabian Boll, Fin Bartels; Marius Ebbers, Lennart Thy

Ingolstadt (4-4-2, from right to left, white shirts): Ramazan Özcan; Danny da Costa, Marino Biliškov, Ralph Gunesch, Andreas Schäfer; Stefan Leitl, Marvin Matip, Pascal Groβ, Ümit Korkmaz; Caiuby, Christian Eigler

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Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-1 FC Ingolstadt

The first half formations, as Ingolstadt forcefully imposed their system and tactics on the game.

Fortuna Düsseldorf overcame 43 minutes of being outclassed by a seemingly inferior 2. Bundesliga opponent to secure what was in the end a comfortable victory. Despite bossing the majority of the first half with their risky attacking play and high defensive line, Ingolstadt paid the price for not taking their chances. After taking the lead seconds before the interval, Fortuna then had the relatively simple task of picking off their crestfallen guests on the break in the second half.

Match preview here 

The match began in a competitive manner, each sides giving as good as they got. Therefore, we saw a number of half chances as formations were temporarily abandoned, Andreas Buchner and Max Beister, cutting in from the wings for the away and home side respectively, probably seeing the clearest openings of goal in the opening five minutes.