St Pauli 1-2 VfB Stuttgart
Substitute Sven Schipplock’s superb individual winner in the 88th minute lifted Stuttgart out of the relegation zone and dropped St Pauli into the bottom three.
Fabian Boll had put the hosts in front in the first half at the Millerntor Stadion, but Zdravko Kuzmanovic quickly levelled before Schipplock struck five minutes after coming off the bench.
Victory moved Stuttgart up to 13th, although they are still level on points with third-bottom St Pauli, two of four teams on 28 points.
The Hamburg side have now lost four in a row, though, and need to find their early season form again soon to avoid an instant return to the second tier.
The hosts were first to threaten and Florian Bruns whipped in a cross which Dennis Daube at the far post volleyed just wide.
At the other end Kuzmanovic’s low shot had goalkeeper Thomas Kessler at full-stretch to push the ball away.
The hosts went ahead in the 19th minute with their first goal in four games.
Fin Bartels sent in a cross from the right which Boll fired home.
The lead lasted just five minutes, though, as Tamas Hajnal played a free-kick short to Kuzmanovic who rifled a 30-yard effort into the bottom corner.
Gerald Asamoah then volleyed against the underside of the bar, the referee ruling the ball had not crossed the line as keeper Sven Ulreich cleared it away, as the hosts came within a whisker of going back in front.
The second half belonged to Stuttgart, Kessler again doing well to parry another long-range attempt from the dangerous Kuzmanovic and defender Moritz Volz blocking Christian Gentner’s shot.
And they found a winner in style two minutes from time as Schipplock picked up the ball on halfway, advanced forward into the area and guided a shot into the bottom corner.
Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com
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