U19s lose 2-1 to St. Pauli in the cup | OneFootball

Borussia's U19s have suffered a surprise exit from the DFB-Pokal, following a 2-1 defeat by FC St. Pauli. Having reached the final last year – in which they succumbed to a 3-1 loss to VfB Stuttgart – coach Mike Tullberg's charges could not manage to go beyond the round of 16 this year.

"We no longer possess the individual quality. And if we don't reach 100%, we lose close games like this," coach Tullberg said in the aftermath of a match in which the Black & Yellows failed to open the scoring after the interval.

The majority of the action in the first half took place between the two penalty areas. BVB allowed the visitors a half-chance in the 18th minute and were unlucky that Samuel Bamba's valiant effort from 18 metres struck the crossbar in the 44th minute. "I expected St. Pauli to be much more aggressive, but the opposition did a very good job tactically," said Tullberg, lauding the discipline of the Hamburg outfit, who closed down Borussia's forwards, neutralised the wide players (Simic, Bamba) and even had a slight ascendancy in the midfield battle.

Nnamdi Collins, Julian Rijkhoff & Co. looked significantly livelier in the second half. Tullberg had made some tweaks to his game plan, with Blank moving out wide from his centre-back position and replacing Jaden Korzynietz, while Rafael Lubach reinforced the midfield. The changes seemed to work. Samuel Bamba's cross set up Paris Brunner in a prime shooting position, but the young striker fired over the bar from 10 metres. Julian Rijkhoff also failed to convert a top chance teed up by a Hendry Blank cross. "Instead of being two goals ahead, we went 1-0 down," complained Mike Tullberg. BVB had given away an unnecessary free kick in the 65th minute, and Marian Kirsch could not keep out Max Maria's low strike.

Collins' goal back too little too late

Tullberg brought on two fresh faces in attack in Ayukayoh Mengot and Isaak Nwachukwu, but the team lacked structure and both the physical and mental freshness – due to the strain of the English weeks – required to pose problems for a vigilant St. Pauli team. Instead, it was the visitors who were celebrating again in the 88th minute when a misplaced cross from Til Kauschke flew over Kirsch and into the net. BVB then threw everything forward. Mengot wasted a great opportunity to pull a goal back. Nnamdi Collins scored shortly before the four minutes of injury time were up – but it was too little too late.

The team will now have 10 days to regenerate, before taking on Manchester City in the UEFA Youth League (Tuesday 25 October, 16:00 CET).

BVB: Kirsch – Mane (Rashidi, 78), Collins, Blank, Korzynietz (Lubach, 46) – Simic (Nwachuwkwu, 62), Walz, Cisse, Bamba – Brunner (Mengot, 62), Rijkhoff.

(wiwi)