PARS 0-3 FC St Pauli

ATHLETIC'S first pre-season friendly of the new season ended in defeat as a classy FC St Pauli earned a three-goal victory at KDM Group East End Park.

In the first meeting between the clubs, the landmark match was watched by more than 7,000 spectators, with the Bundesliga 2 side proving too good for James McPake's League One winners.

Johannes Eggestein put the visitors ahead in the first half, with Hauke Wahl and David Otto adding to their advantage in the second period.

"It was a good crowd, good opposition and a very good exercise for our players," McPake said.

"We'll take a lot out of that game in terms of where we're at in pre-season.

"We knew that (they were a good side) when they came. They had two good outfits; they put a team on in the second half that were equally as good as the team in the first half.

"They move the ball well. They are a big club, they get 30,000 at home games - you saw with the away support that they brought - but, in terms of our football club, we played a friendly against Kilmarnock a year ago, and we had 1,200 fans at it, both Kilmarnock and Dunfermline fans.

"Tonight, we had over 4,000 of our own fans here, or round about that if it was mixed, to watch a pre-season friendly, albeit, yeah, it's a foreign opposition, and that brings excitement, of course it does. But I think it shows just how far the club has came in the last 12 months, and on the back of the success, of course, of winning a league, then that helps get the fans through the door.

"I don't think they were let down in terms of seeing a Dunfermline team that was just going to work hard, and a tired Dunfermline team at that, that's had a tough week.

"What we take away from that is a mentality that, even when we are tired, we keep going, because they came into the game tired."

One of the players McPake started was Paul McGowan, who ended last season on loan with the Pars from Dundee.

The midfielder, who left Dens Park in the close season, was fielded as a trialist and, when asked about whether he could sign, the Pars boss said: ""I thought he was excellent in the game. It's at the end of his first week, he's worked hard all week.

"Like the rest of them, he put a lot of work into that.

"I'll see how he is in the morning - if he can walk after chasing them about for 80- minutes or whatever it was!"

A crowd of more than 7,000 turned up at KDM Group East End Park for the first-ever meeting between the Pars and FC St Pauli, a game organised through the links of the DAFC Fussball GmbH investment group - and Thomas Meggle, who is also Dunfermline's sporting director, in particular - with the German outfit.

He has previously played for and managed St Pauli, as well as having served as their sporting director, and the game attracted huge interest from fans of the Bundesliga 2 side from across the UK as well as in Germany.

It also captured the imagination of the home crowd, who turned up to watch their side host a German club for the first time since 1967, when Borussia Dortmund were 3-2 victors in a friendly, during Athletic's halcyon period.

In 1964, VFB Stuttgart played Dunfermline in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, with the Fifers winning through, whilst Jimmy Calderwood's Pars played a friendly with SC Verl, in the Netherlands, in 2000.

This match was always likely to be a tough test for McPake's League One winners, with the visitors having finished fifth in Bundesliga 2 last season.

Although they were without internationalists such as Jackson Irvine, Australia's former Ross County and Hibernian midfielder, the early play suggested they would give Athletic a good workout.

The visitors were slick with their passing and, whilst the Pars forced an early corner, they fell behind after only 10 minutes.

Robin Müller did ever so well on the left hand side and made his way along the goal line, and played the ball across the six yard box.

The ball was eventually pushed out by Deniz Mehmet but it fell into the path of Johannes Eggestein, who slotted home well from around 12 yards.

Chris Hamilton had an attempt blocked, and Craig Wighton was unfortunate not to get a shot away when the ball was played up to him on the right, as the Pars tried to work their way back into it, but the pattern of the game was unsurprising, with St Pauli enjoying the majority of the ball.

Bennet Winter, having fired over the bar, was played through thanks to a superb, defence-splitting pass, and looked set to score, but Mehmet was out quickly to deny him with a smart block.

Oladapo Afolayan and Carlo Boukhalfa both had attempts for St Pauli before the half ended, when all-but Eggestein were substituted at half-time.

One of those who came on, Hauke Wahal, steered home well from a knockdown, at a corner, four minutes into the second half to double the visitors' advantage.

Lewis McCann and Paul Allan came on at the interval for Dunfermline, and the former did well to break away from halfway, before being held out outside the box.

He managed to recycle the ball, which found its way to Josh Edwards to cross, and, as McCann challenged, he went down inside the box, with howls from the home fans for a penalty waved away by ref, Scott Lambie.

Dunfermline continued to work hard, but it was the German team who continued to have opportunities, with Marcel Hartel having a free-kick saved, and David Otto shooting wide.

The latter, however, did make it 3-0 with 13 minutes to go, heading in well at the far post from Emmanouil Saliakas' cross.

The hosts kept going, but had Mehmet to thank for a double save, before Etienne Amenyido was denied by a goal line clearance.

Towards the end, in stoppage time, Amenyido almost added a fourth with a spectacular overhead kick, with the ball crashing off the bar, but St Pauli did enough to end a glamour occasion with victory.