Socceroos Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe face a crunch clash this Saturday night as St. Pauli look to escape relegation from the German Bundesliga, as they host Wolfsburg on the final day of the season.

Locked on 26 points apiece, St. Pauli (last, 18th) & Wolfsburg (16th) are at best vying for 16th position on the table, which means a lifeline playoff against the second tier’s third placed-finisher. Also in the mix are Heidenheim (17th), who will be simultaneously hosting mid-table Mainz.

A St. Pauli success would come against recent form and expectation; they’ve managed just three points from their last nine games – all draws – while their last win came against Hoffenheim on March 1st. Perhaps crucially, they dropped all three points to Heidenheim two matches ago on April 25.

‘Unfortunately, I think they’re the one of the three that you’d be looking at as the most likely to be going down from that group that is at the bottom there,’ The Athletic’s Kit Holden told Box2Box.

‘Wolfsburg and Heidenheim were pretty much dead and buried a few weeks ago, but have managed to bounce back with a few good results that were unexpected.

‘St. Pauli, on the other hand, have been in a slow decline and were hovering around that relegation playoff place for a few weeks, before slipping into the automatic relegation places the past couple of weeks. I think the momentum is with the other two.’

If the hurdle didn’t seem great enough, St. Pauli had four players – Hauke Wahl, David Nemeth, Eric Smith and Louis Oppie – sit out Tuesday’s training session with a stomach bug, while skipper Irvine continues to nurse a long-term foot concern between matches.

It’s appeared to be a frustrating season for Irvine at times. Robbed of a pre-season after foot surgery saw him miss nearly six months of football through 2025 – including some key moments with Australia – he missed another two games in January after a flareup, and spent a further three building up his minutes.

Irvine spent three full seasons chasing promotion with the St. Pauli, finishing 5th, 5th and 1st. His debut in a top five European league was long-awaited, coming aged 31, so further time in the second tier now would surely for Irvine feel unpalatable.

‘We need to keep our heads and keep believing. Today’s performance gives me the feeling we can beat Wolfsburg,’ he told St. Pauli’s club website after last weekend’s loss to RB Leipzig.

‘We have to believe we can do it and push each other all week. We still have a chance and we’ll fight to the end.’

‘I think the Millerntor is going to give Wolfsburg a ferocious reception. Irvine called it a Cup final and I think that’s true; one of his teammates said it was going to be like a war. They’ve got nothing to lose now, but everything to win, and know what they have to do,’ continued Holden.

‘It’s good it’s a direct battle against Wolfsburg because, although relying on Heindenheim a little bit, they’re not too much relying on other results.’

In contrast to Irvine, a drop to the 2. Bundesliga may not be the worst thing for Metcalfe. Aged 26 and last re-signed in mid-2024, he’s also been dogged by injury through chunks of their two seasons in the top flight. Despite making 24 appearances in the League this season, he’s started just twice.