The coach who only knows wins

That's how you can go wrong. Before his FC St. Pauli game at SV Sandhausen, coach Fabian Hürzeler had warned of "one of the most difficult away games" in the 2nd Bundesliga. His record hunters taught him better: With an effortless 5-0 (4-0) his team celebrated their eighth win in a row on Sunday and also improved a 48-year-old club record immediately before the international break.

"My team did very, very well," said the 30-year-old coach to Sky TV. But Hürzeler wouldn't be Hürzeler if he allowed himself to be dazzled by the winning streak. "We're trying not to take off, but know where we're coming from." It's still a process "that we can go through. Of course a lot worked today, a lot went for us. But I think the previous games have already shown that we're far from finished with our development."

By winning at the bottom of the table, the North Germans climbed to fifth place and after the 25th match day are only eight points behind their city rivals Hamburger SV on the promotion relegation place three. "The gap to third place is still big," said co-captain and doubles goalscorer Jackson Irvine. Defense boss Eric Smith is nevertheless convinced: "If we play like this, we'll be hard to beat."

If you take the first 30 minutes as a benchmark, he's right. In the completely one-sided game, Manolis Saliakas (19'), Lukas Daschner (24') and Oladapo Afolayan (25') gave their team a clear lead within six minutes. Sandhausen's Alexander Esswein saw the red card in stoppage time in the first half after an overly tough challenge against Afolayan. Leart Paqarada's free-kick was then crowned by Irvine, scoring the visitors' fourth goal. After five headed goals, the Australian found his foot for the first time this season.

Even after the break, only FC St. Pauli played. The team of the young coach Fabian Hürzeler failed to extend the lead with a majority for a long time. Shortly before the end Irvine was there again, who scored – again with his foot. "We want to keep winning games. That sounds easy, but it's not," said the midfielder and sounded like his coach: "After every game won, the next game becomes even more difficult." The next attempt is after the international break in the home game against Jahn Regensburg.

City rivals Hamburger SV then have to play in Düsseldorf – a difficult away game for a team in good form. You can't say that about HSV at the moment, recently there was only one point from two games. Against Holstein Kiel there was a problem in the goalless home draw, especially in terms of converting chances. After all: In Düsseldorf, the last suspended coach Tim Walter returns to the coaching bench. "We shouldn't care about the others like that. First of all we have to do our homework,” said goal scorer Robert Glatzel about the situation.