Salzburg Regional League Matchday 19: SV Wals-Grünau vs. FC Pinzgau Saalfelden
March 18 2022 (19:00 CET), Hans-Ludwig Stadion
How To Watch:
English Stream – fan.at and fcps.at
The Opposition
Though founded back in 1957, it has only been since the appointment of Franz Aigner as head coach in 2016 that SV Wals-Grünau have started to enjoy some noteworthy success. The St. Johann im Pongau native guided SVWG to a first-place finish in the Salzburger Liga in his first full season in charge and followed that up with seventh place in the Regionalliga West in 2017/18 – the best placement in the club’s history. But they could not maintain that form the following year and finished 12th in what was then a 16-team league. The last two seasons have been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic: at the time of cancellation, SVWG were fifth and last in the table respectively.
Team News
FC Pinzgau Saalfelden head coach Christian Ziege will still be without centre-back Denis Kahrimanovic, who is back in team training following his cruciate ligament injury but is not yet ready to return to action.
Fellow defender Niklas Mühlbacher will miss out through suspension after accumulating five bookings, while Lukas Moosmann is not yet match-fit after undergoing surgery on his hip.
Marcel Bernhofer has been the key man in attack for SVWG this term. He is the top-scorer with five goals, while Moussa David Dembele and Thomas Pertl have chipped in four and three goals respectively.
The rest of the team have managed only four goals between them in a season where Franz Aigner’s charges have struggled to find the net: they have the worst attacking record in the league, with only 16 goals scored.
Recent Form
While Christian Ziege’s men are now unbeaten at home in over 500 days in competitive action, it has been a different story on the road, where they have only one victory to their name this season. The Mountainous Pine Blues played three winter friendlies in preparation for the spring season, beating SC Kalsdorf 1-0 before losing 5-0 to FC Kitzbühel and drawing 1-1 with the Wacker Innsbruck reserves.
Opponents SV Wals-Grünau finished the fall season second-bottom with 14 points and were the division’s worst performers over the final nine games, with just one win and two draws. Mid-season was a mixed bag for SVWG: two narrow wins and a draw against lower-division opposition were accompanied by a 6-0 thrashing by St. Johann.
Head-To-Head Record
With four wins and two draws from their last six meetings, it is fair to say FC Pinzgau Saalfelden have fared well against SV Wals-Grünau in recent times. FCPS also have the superior overall head-to-head record with 11 wins, two draws and eight defeats.