SW Bregenz v. GAK

It should have been the perfect opportunity for GAK to gain a lot of self-confidence after a convincing performance at the weekend against Rapid (1:1) and ahead of the match away to Salzburg on Saturday (5pm) and score their first goal. Winning since 9:00pm 0 in the second round of the Austrian FA Cup over Reichenau on August 28. In the round of 16 against second division side Bregenz, things went completely differently, as the athletes lost 1:2 in Landel and it seems as if the euphoria that briefly arose with the change of coach has already faded away again.

New coach Rene Poms stunned before kick-off and changed nine positions – only captain Lukas Graf and Michael Chiocqua were in the starting line-up against Rapid. “I wanted to give the players who were a little dissatisfied a chance,” Pommes said, justifying his decision after the final whistle. “But if I want to show that I want to be a regular player at GAK, I have to act differently.” Poms “could not understand” that some basic virtues were missing. “If I wanted to take a chance on being in the first 11 games, I would go in and eat grass.”

Ultimately, the stems in Bregenz remained unchanged. Martin Kreuzrigler, who was returning from a shoulder injury, misjudged a long ball, Graf entered into a duel with Renan and the forward scored powerfully past cup keeper Christoph Nichte to take an early lead (7th place). As the match progressed, the Graz side missed numerous chances, some of them first-class, and it was only substitute Daniel Maderner who managed to equalize the score they deserved in the 75th minute.

Maderner: “It's incomprehensible to me…”

But it didn't last long: after just a few minutes, Graf and Kreuzrigler didn't look good again, Mario Vucinovic left them standing and Necht had no chance with his well-placed shot. “The goal should not be allowed to pass, we have to stand much more firmly,” Maderner complained, adding: “For me, I do not understand why we showed such a face.”

GAK were unable to equalize again, also because big chances were missed once again. “We were very careless in taking our chances, and we were very weak in defense – so you don't deserve to win a game,” said Pommes, who now has to pick his team up. “The worst thing that can happen to you in football is to lose a match because you did not put everything on the field.”