Guilavogui shines as St. Pauli secure deserved win

After a scrappy opening period, the hosts began to control proceedings at the Millerntor after Morgan Guilavogui hit the bar from six yards out following a St. Pauli corner. Although the forward was originally adjudged offside, replays showed that had Guilavogui found the back of the net, the hosts would indeed have taken the lead.

Following the big chance, the hosts remained in the ascendancy, with some neat link-up play between Jackson Irvine and Johannes Eggestein seeing the Australian midfielder get a strike away from the edge of the box that failed to really trouble Alexander Schwolow. 

However, the hosts did eventually take the lead in the 31st minute, with the link-up between Eggestein and Irvine once again being showcased, before Guilavogui was played in one-on-one to rifle the ball into the roof of the net to score Pauli's 15th goal of the campaign. 

Benedict Hollerbach missed an opportunity to level the scorings just moments later for Union. However, a lively performance from the aforementioned forwards alongside Noah Weißhaupt saw the hosts go into halftime leading. 

Just six minutes into the second half, the hosts went on to double their lead via Guilavogui once again, with the side without much to shout about in regards to goals at home, being firmly in control on home soil for the first time since their promotion to the Bundesliga. 

A well-hit strike from the edge of the box saw the Guinean international double his tally to net his fifth goal of the campaign. 

Freiburg loanee Weißhaupt came agonisingly close to adding a third for St. Pauli in the 66th minute, after his deflected effort struck the post, with goalkeeper Schwolow completely stranded on his line. 

The visitors struggled to break into the St. Pauli half throughout the second half, with a notable chance from Benedict Hollerbach involving the forward failing to connect with a perfectly laid-off cutback inside the box. 

To wrap things up to secure a convincing win, Daniel Sinani sent a deflected effort into the back of the net to earn St. Pauli just their second win on home soil this season.

Alexander Blessin's side are now up to 13th, overtaking today's visitors who look to be in a precarious position under new manager Steffen Baumgart.