FSV OPTIK RATHENOW (Stadions Vogelgesang)

DFB POKAL 1, FSV OPTIK RATHENOW 1-3 FC SANKT PAULI,
ATTENDANCE: 4,500

After all the excitement of the Friday night in Chemnitz, I headed to the small town of Rathenow. It is part of the state of Brandenburg and lies 60 miles west of Berlin.

The town is famous for its manufacturing of spectacles and other optical instruments, which continues to this day, but when the town was part of the old GDR it supplied most of the Eastern Bloc and employed thousands of people.

The local amateur side, FSV Optik Rathenow, were taking on St. Pauli In the first round of the DFB Pokal at their own Vogelgesang Stadion.

Rathenow play in the Oberliga Nord, which is the fifth level of German football, and qualified for the DFB Pokal by virtue of winning the Brandenburg Landespokal. For me, this was the first part of a Saturday double.

Thanks to a friend, I managed to secure a ticket in the St Pauli section of the ground. However, by the time I arrived most of the standing area under cover had been taken, no problems in the bright afternoon sunshine, but just before kick off the heavens opened and I proceeded to get absolutely soaked. Luckily though this soon passed and the sun re-appeared as the game progressed.

You sensed it was going to be a long afternoon for the homesters when after a couple of minutes St Pauli hit the post and had an effort cleared off the line. It didn't take long for the breakthrough to be made though when Chris Nöthe (9m) gave the visitors the lead.

St. Pauli controlled the game and had plenty of chances but it took until the 31st minute before they doubled their lead when Ante Budimir scored. Rathenow had a couple of half chances from corners just before half time but that was about it for the Optiks.

St Pauli finally killed the game off early in the second half when Nöthe (51m) bagged his second and the game petered out.

Seven minutes from time Rathenow scored a consolation goal, which was celebrated like they had won the game, when Shelby Printemps scored.