Having made it to the fourth tier of Austrian football after 3 promotions in a row you might have thought some of the fans might have got a bit complacent and swapped the first couple of games at the beginning of August for a week at the beach and a sunburn and beer guarantee; especially as yesterday’s visitors, Henndorf (or Chicken Village as even some of their inhabitants say) only escaped relegation last season by the skin of their teeth. But no; 1550 spectators still found their way to see an extremely engrossing game played in the heat of the late afternoon sun which eventually ended up 4-2 for SV Austria Salzburg, although like the previous week it could honestly have gone either way.

After four evenings of drinking with my brother and his wife, Liz the human gin bottle, the final Friday session having started at four in the afternoon, seeing them off at the airport I was too knackered to realise I was hung over, so as the day wore on the fun factor began to wear off and the thought of anything other than sleep felt like unnecessary stress. Still, family is one thing and Austria Salzburg is another.

First thing I noticed when I got to the ground, apart from my headache and stomach ache, was that there was a big queue for tickets. After purchasing a ticket I decided to treat myself to the new Austria Salzburg kit top and lovely it is too. I looked up to the gate end of the touchline stand, normally populated by kids and the sit-down-and-clap brigade, and saw flags and smoke and heard chanting. It was only when I got past Salva and the Ultras I realised we’ve now been moved by the powers that be to the other end of the stands. So now at least there are no more stupid plastic seats to fall over.
 
I managed to look daft anyway in my daze as I was not aware that the price tag was still hanging out at the back of the neck. Fortunately, being over forty old people don’t have any credibility anyway, so hopefully nobody else noticed. With the new top over the t-shirt I was wearing anyway I was hot and bothered, but the thought of grabbing a beer did not appeal so I stood and sweated waiting for the teams to come out. Why summer games can’t be played at a later time I do not know.
 
Enter the gladiators! Same starting line-up as last week. The most notable presence on the field was that of Milan Pavlovic, on of Henndorf’s most recent signings, and a demi-god in his own scheme of things. Pavlovic also played for the new Austria in an era of cooperation with another Salzburg team, PSV, so he was well known to the Austria fans. Whereas the departed Mersudin Jukic wanted to be loved by the fans so much he came over for a cuddle after every goal, Pavlovic is a bit of a jealous Buddha and does not take well to rival sources of light. A massively talented player with an infuriatingly small movement radius.
 
Although, once again, Austria Salzburg had the balance of play in the first ten minutes it was Henndorf’s Manuel Federspieler who broke the deadlock. Surprise surprise – it was Milan Pavlovic and a stroke of genius to get Federspieler – surprise surprise – behind the Austria defence to slot home for the away side. 0-1.
 
Without looking spectacular Henndorf were able to string a number of passes together and were able to threaten to explode the offside trap on a number of occasions. So far Austria Salzburg have been able to burn off exorbitant amounts of energy to get back into things and were again rewarded for their fighting spirit after another five minutes as Anton Feldinger straightened out the score to make it 1-1 on 15 minutes.
As a tactical measure Heli Rottensteiner was replaced in midfield by Nico Mayer and a number of chances were created on both sides, none of the leading to a breakthrough until an innocuous looking cross was headed back by a Henndorf defender to a goalkeeper who bizarrely wasn’t there! 2-1 to the Austria on 30 minutes.
 
By this time the referee, Mr Struz, seemed determined to stifle the life out of the game with lots of stoppages and cards. Ivan ‘red mist’ Pecaranin may have got nervous as three yellow cards had already been handed out and way maybe worried there wouldn’t be one left for him. However, no worries, a silly foul on 42 minutes and Ivan had another yellow for the collection just before the break. At half time a scrounged beaker of Coca Cola was as much as I could bear to drink.
 
Of course, ‘I – Milan’ could not stand the idea of anyone being more at the centre of attention than himself so on 50 minutes he picked up his own yellow card to remind everybody of his presence. With the score at 2-1 going into the final 20 minutes that creeping sense of something could happen, became that dreadful feeling of ‘something has happened. One man might have described it as an act of God, but whatever you think of the man, Pavlovic, at this level there are few gods of his magnificence. A perfectly controlled ball and a deft and graceful shot rose and dipped perfectly beyond Alex Trappl’s outstretched arms.
 
As if to say ‘I – Milan, have scored a world class goal, you mortal may cheer at your will!’ he rubbed it in by swaggering over to the corner flag and stroked his chest to a chorus of ‘XXXX$$!!!!KKKK%%%!!! from the home crowd. However, having failed to read the script, his moment of self-inflicted glory lasted as long as it takes to bring on a substitute and just seconds later it was that substitute, Cavic, who found the back of the net and dared to steal the limelight from – or ruffle the feathers of – the incandescent one. 3-2 to Austria Salzburg.
 
It wouldn’t be an Austria Salzburg game if we didn’t have to panic right up until the last minute. After having added on a whole four minutes for stoppages in the second half the ref seemed to have really got into the game and just didn’t want to blow up. Five minutes – six minutes – seven minutes, so when Bernd Winkler finally made it 4-2 in what must have been the 157th minute, there was a very large collective sigh of relief and a run on the bar, which this time I was unable to resist!
 
Roger Lord
 
SV Austria Salzburg - Union Henndorf 4-2 (2-1)
 
Austria Salzburg played with:
Trappl; Urbanek, Schmidt, Pecaranin, Milic; Rottensteiner (21. Mayer), Federer, Neubauer, Feldinger (71. Schleindl); Leitner (56. Cavic), Winkler
 
Goals:
0-1: Federspieler (10.)
1-1: Feldinger (15.) (Assist: Winkler)
2-1: Bernroider (30., own goal)
2-2: Pavlovic (66.)
3-2: Cavic (76.) (Assist: Schmidt)
4-2: Winkler (94.) (Assist: Trappl)
 
Shots total: Austria 10 / Henndorf 15
Shots on goal: Austria 6 / Henndorf 9
Shots wide: Austria 1 / Henndorf 6
Shots blocked: Austria 3 / Henndorf 0
Corners: Austria 6 / Henndorf 7
Fouls: Austria 24 / Henndorf 17
Offsides: Austria 13 / Henndorf 8
 
Yellow cards:
Austria: 5 (Rottensteiner, 12./foul; Leitner, 35./foul; Pecaranin, 42./foul; Cavic, 60./foul; Schmidt, 84./foul)
Henndorf: 3 (Grössinger, 38./foul; Pavlovic, 50./foul; Deutinger, 86./foul)
 
Salzburg, Austria-Sportanlage Maxglan, 1550 spectators
Ref: Christian Struz; Assitants: Silke Mitterlechner, Polat Sen