OK, so the pitch was slow and the weather was hot and we didn’t play with our strongest formation and Bergheim are a compact counter attacking team and the refs are against us and we should have had a penalty for this and that…and…and…and… But the fact is we’ve spent the whole season struggling against seemingly easy opponents because the uncertainties and limitations at the back have often cancelled out the work done at the front. After delivering my report for the Bürmoos game just seconds before I left the house on Saturday I shouldn’t be talking about other people’s excuses.
The last time we played in Bergheim it was a chilly spring afternoon and this time the summery temperatures would have been more suited to a day at the lake. Another thing that had changed was that they now had a roof on their grandstand and if they’d really wanted to do us a favour they should have handed it over to the Austria faithful, which they didn’t.
What hasn’t changed is our inability to deal with teams that can counter attack well, and after the lessons learnt in Golling, Thalgau, Adnet, Bürmoos and Strobl, we should have known that our closest rivals last year, and a team positioned third in the table this year was not going to roll over and let us tickle their tummies. In fact, of all the counter attacking teams this season have proven the most effective, having achieved a goal difference of +24 goals and proving that counter attacks do not only come from high balls over the top. Bergheim also play fast, compact football.
So anyway, after more or less holding the balance of play without netting anything Austria Salzburg again fell for a sucker punch and found themselves sprinting back to close an offside trap that had already been smashed. 1-0 to Bergheim (Peter) on 34 minutes. The sense of injustice after having done more for the game has to be kept in bounds. What do you expect? These teams don’t build up slowly from the back, even if they’d like to. They don’t play beautiful passing combinations, they don’t dazzle to deceive with mazy runs or score one-man-show goals. They look for holes in your defence and play quick balls in to feet or out to players closing in on the wings, or they simply outpace your defence.
If all season we’ve been falling for these teams like plastic fruit in a furniture centre, what we also seem to do is score jammy goals at the right time. Barely two minutes after falling behind Heli Rottensteiner, capped an industrious performance to make it 1-1 and nip the nascent tensions building behind the goal in the bud.
On the card front, after yellow for Alex Trappl on 6 minutes there was a deserved yellow card for Kopleder on 30 minutes as another theatrical fall was unmasked. Even if the Austria fans didn’t like it, it’s better to learn to stay on your feet now because in higher divisions the tackling gets harder and not every hobby actor is awarded a penalty for falling over creatively; something a number of other Austria players need to bear in mind for next season as there is no promotion for the team with the most Oscars.
Half time was a pleasant affair spent sitting in the sun on the pallet grandstand erected by Bergheim for the game. At a record four pallets high, no other hosts have made a greater effort to ensure that we actually saw the game. Still, for the second half I wanted a better view of the other goal so I moved off to get as close to the halfway line as possible in a game I was not convinced would improve. In fact with Mario Schleindl replaced at half time we lost the player that decided the game a year ago and Nico Mayer also being taken off after 45 minutes it could have turned sour.
Fortunately, the introduction of Stefan Federer in midfield and Jukic at the front wasn’t in any sense negative for the side as Federer battled back several balls at the centre right of midfield and it was Jukic who showed his class on 59 minutes picking out Kopleder on the far post to head Austria back into the lead. 2-1. Again, I have to say Kopleder has an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time. If he was a bridesmaid he would be the one to catch the bouquet.
And just as Austria Salzburg has learnt to score these jammy get-out-of-jail goals, they’ve also got a habit of throwing away leads, so after Salzburg had failed to press home a third, another whirlwind attack caught the Austria defence with their trousers down on 70 minutes and Bergheim were back in the frame at 2-2 with a goal by Francic; but it wouldn’t be part of the Austria myth if there wasn’t a happy end, so with just two minutes left on the clock Christof Kopleder was in his favourite position 2cm away from the left post again, to nick a last gasp winner and three points for promotion.
See you in Maxglan next Saturday. My prediction: Austria Salzburg 5 – Adnet 1!
Roger Lord
FC Bergheim - SV Austria Salzburg 2-3 (1-1)
Austria Salzburg played with:
A. Trappl; Milic, Würnstl, Weiss, Csenki; Rottensteiner, Mayer (46. Federer), Neubauer, Seywald (70. Rehrl); Kopleder, Schleindl (46. Jukic)
Goals:
1-0: Peter (34.)
1-1: Rottensteiner (36.) (Assist: Neubauer)
1-2: Kopleder (59.) (Assist: Jukic)
2-2: Francic (71.)
2-3: Kopleder (88.) (Assist: Jukic)
Shots: Bergheim 9 / Austria 14
Shots on target: Bergheim 6 / Austria 7
Corners: Bergheim 8 / Austria 5
Fouls: Bergheim 18 / Austria 18
Offsides: Bergheim 12 / Austria 3
Yellow cards:
Bergheim: 0
Austria: 3 (A. Trappl, 6./unsporting behaviour; Kopleder, 30./unsporting behaviour; Csenki, 45./foul)
Bergheim, 1000 specatators
Ref: Gerhard Freidl; Assistenten: Eberhard Zanner, Nimetullah Ölmez
