After the game against St Johann we could have been forgiven for thinking we had finally found the magic beans and every game would be won in a three-goal fart in the first half with a late fourth goal at the end. Unfortunately, Seekirchen’s existence in the last two years has been a story of desperate old testament-style gnashing of teeth and scrabbling for points, so anyone going to Seekirchen expecting a cave-in was going to be disappointed.
Although the sun was out Seekirchen’s refrigerated grandstand can take a sunny spring day and transform it into the first day of winter, channelling, as it does, polar air streams across the seats and draining your will to live. As the game began I thought we were playing a bit far up, like a team that thinks it can’t be countered. We passed the ball around but with Seekirchen needing the ball we didn’t recognise the need to keep it safe. After a misunderstanding at the back we were overrun and ex-Austria player Sonko Pa planted a header onto the crossbar for his new teammate Christopher Mayr to volley in. 1-0 to Seekirchen after 11 minutes.
Somehow that put us off balance. Instead of keeping hold of the ball and building from the back, we slipped back into old habits and stood too far up and try to run the ball through midfield. We had chances, but so did they, as we kept losing the ball. The half-time score of 1-0 made sense as it gave us something to chase for the second half, and gave Seekirchen the opportunity to sit deep and defend the three points...
....which they didn’t. Only very good or very bad teams stop playing at 1-0. Seeing as Seekirchen have been diligently collecting the odd point here and there since the winter break, we ought to have rethought our approach at half time – maybe we did.
In the second half I couldn’t bear standing in the arctic breeze of the stands anymore, so Barbara F and myself went to join El Presidente Christian O out in the sun at the end we were attacking. Having been in China for the previous couple of weeks, he’d obviously forgotten how to drink and kept leaving the last third of his beer standing around and buying another. Those of us who grew up with post-war parents will tell you how important it is to finish what you have started.
Now we looked to be playing a bit further back and trying to build, but the urgency seemed to have gone. There were a couple of speculative balls in that Marco Vujic could have latched onto, but didn’t start his sprints early enough. We were passing well but without enough movement off the ball, so that 20 seconds of possession equated to no headway. The first big chance of the second half went Seekirchen’s way when it looked like a ball was going to bounce in off the post, but flew along the line into Eisl’s hands.
As crap as we are at corners and free kicks, Seekirchen showed why they are third from bottom as on 59 minutes Mihael Rajic was allowed a free header from a Nico Mayer corner to put us level again at 1-1. Deservedly, but no more than that. And rather than taking control of the game from there, we looked to have got stuck in the same gear. On 75 minutes I went to get some more beers in. No sooner had I paid than the roar went up from the home crowd on 78 minutes and we were behind once again 2-1, as Seekirchen’s Stockinger reeled away to celebrate what they believed to be 3 points. However, a game, as they say, lasts 90 minutes. On 80 minutes Lukas Wührer pulled down a diagonal ball on the edge of the penalty area, set it up with the second touch and the third touch sent it into the back of their net. A couple of passes strung together and we were back in it at 2-2, which is how it ended. We did just enough to earn a draw and Seekirchen showed why there will be no away game in Seekirchen next year.
Bfn - Roger
SV Seekirchen - SV Austria Salzburg 2-2 (1-0)
Austria Salzburg played with:
Eisl; Rajic, Winkler, Milosevic (46. Kircher), Hirsch; Federer (75. Wührer), Reifeltshammer, Mayer, Schriebl (46. Kreuzwirth), Pavlovic; Vujic
Goals:
1-0: Mayr (11.)
1-1: Rajic (59.) (Assist: Mayer, Ecke)
2-1: Stockinger (77.)
2-2: Wührer (81.) (Assist: Reifeltshammer)
Shots total: Seekirchen 16 / Austria 21
Shots on target: Seekirchen 5 / Austria 5
Shots blocked: Seekirchen 0 / Austria 1
Corners: Seekirchen 2 / Austria 4
Fouls: Seekirchen 30 / Austria 19
Offsides: Seekirchen 0 / Austria 2
Yellow cards
Seekirchen: 1 (Stauber, 34./foul)
Austria: 2 (Milosevic, 44./foul; Eisl, 45./unsporting behaviour)
Seekirchen, 1050 spectators
Ref: Ing. Michael Pointner; Assistants: Polat Sen, Andreas Gruber
