Recap
Bitter defeat in Kuchl
SV Kuchl 1-0 (0-0) FC Pinzgau Saalfelden. Goal: Hübl (88)
FC Pinzgau Saalfelden succumbed to a narrow 1-0 (0-0) defeat away to SV Kuchl on Sunday afternoon.
The Mountainous Pine Blues seized control of the match from the off and let there be no doubt about their intention to pick up three points away from home for the first time this season. The Ziege Crew quickly created their first opportunities of the game, with David Rathgeb first failing to find the net with two long-range efforts and then heading a delightful cross from Tamas Tandari narrowly over the crossbar. Having been teed up perfectly, Jonas Schwaighofer also failed to find the back of the Kuchl net from inside the penalty area. The men from Tennengau, who hit the side netting on one occasion, looked to be lacking ideas for long spells of the match and hardly managed to impose themselves, so they could count themselves fortunate to go in at the break with the scores all square.
After Christopher Fürstaller fired a warning shot at goal, the home side looked more present and created some good chances – though Kilian Schröcker was on hand to parry a deflected free-kick away to safety and thwart the danger. There was a high tempo and intensity from both sides in the second period, with both teams trying to steer the game in their favour. With a little over an hour on the clock, Schwaighofer had a shot at goal but the Kuchl shot-stopper managed to keep his side in the game. Then, in the closing stages, the hosts benefited from a huge slice of luck: the home goalie struggled to deal with Fürstaller’s pacey cross and almost ended up turning the ball into his own goal. Towards the end, with only minutes to go, Christoph Hübl found the back of the net to make it 1-0 and seal the victory for SV Kuchl.
STATEMENT
“We were able to play the game the way we set out to in the first half. Unfortunately, we were not able to make the most of our opportunities. Kuchl had a better foothold in the game in the second half and we slightly strayed away from our approach. Over the 90 minutes it was a very open match – both sides had really strong spells. There was one moment in the closing stages where we weren’t compact and energetic enough. It was a bitter blow to then be punished like that right at the end,” said Christian Ziege after the final whistle.
LINE-UP
Schröcker; Kitahara, Mühlbacher, Ziege, Adjei; Moosmann, Rathgeb (Aydinhan, 90+1); Schwaighofer (Ocampo-Chavez, 86), Joao Pedro, Fürstaller; Tandari