FC Pinzgau Saalfelden 3-1 (2-0) SV Kuchl. Goals: Adjei (18), Vadze (28, 75); Sabic (63); Red card: Kaindl (49)
FC Pinzgau Saalfelden beat SV Kuchl 3-1 on home turf on Matchday 26 and leapfrogged the Tennengau outfit into second place in the table in the process.
The Mountainous Pine Blues, who had a number of regular starters ruled out with injury, seized the initiative from the beginning and left no doubt about which team wanted to win this match more. The home side soon carved open their first half-chances, with Sebastian Handlechner spurning the best opportunity when he missed with the outside of his boot in the opening stages. But the ball eventually found its way into the back of the net in the 18th minute: Felix Adjei was the quickest to react following a corner and hammered the ball home to establish a more than deserved lead. After two close offside calls against the Ziege Crew, Godswill Vadze scored an outstanding goal from over 30 metres out to make it 2-0. Two more long-range attempts followed via Raphael Streitwieser and Christopher Fürstaller, while Semir Gvozdjar looked lively too: the attacker went past three opponents on a solo run but was denied by the goalkeeper at the last moment.
There was initially no change to the balance of play in the second 45 minutes. The men from Pinzgau continued to dominate proceedings, moved the ball about well and often got themselves into dangerous areas in the Kuchl box. But they lacked that final finishing touch and the rub of the green. As the game hit the hour mark, for example, Gvozdjar headed a pinpoint cross a matter of centimetres over the crossbar. Kuchl went practically straight down the other end and pulled a goal back with their first shot through Benjamin Sabic to make it 2-1. But that minor setback did not knock the hosts – who continued to dominate – off course. Vadze soon put the game to bed following an outstanding assist from Gvozdjar to seal the 3-1 win.
LINE-UP
Schröcker; Benedek, Nupaya (Moosmann, 90+2), Tandari, Adjei; Handlechner (Dudaew, 87), Rathgeb (Seiler, 75), Streitwieser, Vadze; Fürstaller, Gvozdjar