Among the many storylines emerging from St. Pauli’s upset Bundesliga victory over VfB Stuttgart, captain Jackson Irvine’s heroic performance stood out. The 32-year-old skipper – who appears destined to depart the club at the end of the season – turned in a true captain’s performance. Sill visibly limping from injury, Irvine went the full 90 minutes for his relegation threatened Kiezkicker.

Irvine forced into emergency deployment

The absence of Joel Chima Fujita, Eric Smith, and Hauke Wahl forced head coach Alexander Blessin’s hand. Irvine has started several matches since returning from a major injury incurred last season, but never worked the exceptionally demanding role as the linchpin of St. Pauli’s central midfield axis. Irvine has been playing through pain in his left foot, operated on last year, all season. 

Irvine proved a critical force in midfield against heavily-favored Stuttgart. The omnipresent Aussie played an important role in the lead up to Manolis Saliakas’ opening goal. At the half, Irvine couldn’t join the rest of his teammates in the locker room as his foot required extra treatment. Irvine and Blessin both divulged the details of an interesting talk about Irvine’s deployment before the second 45 got rolling. 

Blessin asked Irvine for a little more time

“I asked him if he cold play for another 10 or 15 minutes so that we could start the second half on stable footing,” Blessin revealed at the post-match press conference. “And he said yes. I must single out Jacko for special praise. I hope that his injury doesn’t get worse now, but I don’t think it will as it’s primarily about pain.“

Jackson Irvine on going the full 90 minutes:

“If the coach doesn’t want to take me off, I won’t take myself off,” Irvine said in the mixed zone. “This was one of the toughest games of my career. We were missing so many players.

“Hopefully, this will be a turning point,” Irvine went on to say when speaking on St. Pauli’s first win of 2026. 

Blessin concurred. 

“This could be a big turning point,” Blessin said at the post-match presser. “In the first-leg [a 2-0 away defeat in September], Stuttgart knocked the stuffing out of us. We showed more determination today.“