Kuchl wins the derby

Bad day for Salzburg’s western league teams

Schwaighofer (right) and the Austrians found no means against Dornbirn.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas/Kronen Zeitung)

The Salzburg representatives in the Regionalliga West had nothing to cheer about on Saturday. Austria Salzburg lost against Dornbirn, Bischofshofen at league leaders Imst, St. Johann at Reichenau and Wals-Grünau in the derby against Kuchl. FC Pinzgau turned the match around against Hohenems.

A pitch-black day for Salzburg's Westliga clubs! Kuchl was the only club in the province to win - and that in the derby against Wals-Grünau. The team from Tennengau scrapped their way to a 1:0 win. After a strong first half for the home side, in which Horst Nestaval scored the golden goal in the 29th minute, Grünau came out of the dressing room fresher. Florian Lindner hit the crossbar with a long-range shot in the 47th minute, and 23 minutes later the aluminum again prevented the equalizer. "I'm annoyed about the first half. We did well in the first five minutes. Then it was like a movie break. Kuchl were much better, we didn't get into the duels and weren't attacking enough," said Grünau coach Christoph Knaus, who was anything but happy.

His counterpart Tom Hofer said: "Such victories are sometimes the best, because you put everything into it until the end." He also recognized: "Grünau were the better team in the second half, we were in the first. They definitely deserved the point."

Fight Austria fight", echoed through the Max Aicher Stadium after 26 minutes. Austria Salzburg had just conceded 2-0 in their clash with Dornbirn. In general, the Violets struggled to cope with the relegated second-division side, who were in a solid position. They managed to score two goals without much resistance. At 0:1, Rusch had a free header after a corner, and before the 0:2, a long pass was enough to undermine the entire back line.

"We lost the game in the first half," summed up Rene Zia. Although there was more going on in the second half, the defending champions were too imprecise to be really dangerous and so the score remained 0:2, widening the gap on leaders Imst, who sent Bischofshofen home with a 0:3, to four points. "I hope it stays close until the end. Four points is not a lot and there are still enough games to go," said the captain, not worried.

Bischofshofen had no chance against league leaders Imst, losing 0:3. "The first half was okay, then we had little to offer. We robbed ourselves of our reward with individual mistakes. I wouldn't have known how we were supposed to score a goal," said coach Thomas Schnöll dejectedly. St. Johann lost 0:1 in Reichenau.

FC Pinzgau, however, were able to celebrate. The team from Saalfelden turned the game around against Hohenems and won 2:1 thanks to goals from Joao Pedro and Maurice Entleitner, with the Brazilian celebrating his comeback after a month out injured. "He's doing us extremely well. You could see that again with a goal and an assist," said coach Florian Klausner, happy to have the attacker back.