FC Wacker Innsbruck – founded in 1913 – is one of the most successful clubs in Austria. The Tyrolean traditional club has won 7 national cups and 10 Austrian championships, the last one in 2002. But that one meant a disaster.

The board wanted to bring the club into the Champions League since 2000 and spent much more than they should have. Wacker won the league in 2000, 2001 and 2002 but failed to qualify for the Champions League.
That missing source of income meant that the club had a huge gap in their budget – Wacker Innsbruck was bankrupt!
The club failed to fulfil the licence standards and got relegated into the third division.

Since then, Wacker Innsbruck is an elevator club.

They started a run after they had to go down! Wacker Innsbruck got relegated 2 times in a row and found themselves back in the Austrian Bundesliga just 3 years after bankruptcy.
Following going down again in 2008, the club was back in first division in 2010. Wacker played an impressive first season but failed to qualify for Europe due to their bad run at the end of the season. After that, relegation fighting seasons followed.

The fans saw their team moving down again in 2014.

But they weren’t able to believe their eyes when they looked at the following season in the second division. The club haven’t only failed to reach their aim of direct re-promotion, they secured to stay in the 2nd division in their last game of the season in a face-off with their direct opponent.



After the reliving celebrations after the game, the fans look now in a promising future.

The clubs’ president Josef Gunsch announced that the club finally got over their negative equity. With that being sad, Gunsch signed a new Director of Football, Alfred Hörtnagl, a man that played for the club in their glory days. The former fans-favourite signed a couple of quality players and announced a plan – Wacker 2020.

The plan includes the relegation into the first division until 2017. After that, the club have to look to maintain their place in Austrian’s top division and get back to european football – until the year 2020.

„Wacker Innsbruck should not be an elevator club in the future – we come to stay!“
Director of Football Alfred Hörtnagl mentioned that the networking between the youth and the senior area should be strengthened. That shall lead to a better permeability of youth players into the first team.

“The mission 'Wacker 2020' is understand as an assignment to the club and to all of us. We want a holistic development in every area – is it the sport, the youth, the ladies, the marketing, the PR work or the infrastructure. To be able to follow a lasting way and our aim, to reach the top of Austrian football, we will permanently enhance all this areas.”

Hörtnagl added: “We carry the fire of the tradition further in an hopeful and glory future”

Coach Klaus Schmidt blows the whistle after one of the last trainings of pre-season.
“Well done boys. Come to me!” The mood in the team seems outstanding, almost everybody from last season is still at the club and with the new signings being at the club for weeks now, everybody is already fimilar with the club.

“We want to give the fans something to cheer after they were here every game although we stuck in relegation trouble for four years”, said club-captain Alexander Hauser who plays for the club since 2009. He added that “everybody believes that we can go up this season”.

But from where comes this confidence?

Only a few weeks after the end of the disaster season, everybody at and around the club is talking about high aims.

“This last game of the season where we avoided relegation gave some players a sense of how the fans really feel about the club. The passion the fans showed during the last games of the season was incredible and gave everybody a shift and we really kept going from there on. If we would have played the whole season as we did during the last period we would have had a good chance of going up”, expresses the in Innsbruck born central defender Sebastian Siller.



The new Director of Football Alfred “Ali” Hörtnagl mentioned the cohesion of players and fans as well. “The whole surroundings believes in the players. Of course, everybody was disappointed with the last season but we put this disenchantment out of our heads and we are fully focused on the new season now.”

The few fans at the training ground are sharing their former favourite’s opinion. “We will be fighting for the top this season.”, is the common statement.

But in which direction will the season really go?

The friendlies gave the fans some hope. Apart from the close 1-0 loss against Zürich, the team haven’t lost a game. Klaus Schmidt have the young players time to show what they can and they really proved what they can do against variant Tyrolian side’s like Hall and Wattens.
“The win against Hall was really good, the draw against Wattens shouldn’t have happened but with many of our players being on loan there, it just shows that there are great players on the verge to play for Wacker Innsbruck”, states coach Schmidt.

To round up the pre-season, Wacker won against French side Espinal.

“The latest win gave us confidence and we are looking to carry this confidence into the season”, asserts new shooting star Alexander Riemann who was a welcome present from Hörtnagl, who recommended the player to president Gunsch who signed him on a free from German side Wiesbaden.

The only game between the new season and Wacker Innsbruck is the away trip to Deutschlandsberg.

“I’m really looking forward to it. We are confident that we can get a win out there”, claimed young striker Alex Gründler. “The cup win is the fastest way to European football”, was added by the Tyrolean with a wink.

Welcome to WackerTV.

We have met one of Wacker's new arrivals, midfield motor Christoph Freitag, after the last training session before today's departure to the cup game against Deutschlandsberg.

Hi Christoph,
you are a few weeks here now, what are your first expressions?
Positive. We've got the mountains and the sun - it's perfect. Training conditions, stadium, everything around, the team - really positive.

How are your team-mates doing in training so far?
Very good. I'm surprised in a positive way. We are going a high tempo and the training sessions are long and intensive but that welds together and we have to set the basis for the season now.

Wacker Innsbruck is coming from a bad season that ran against expectations. Many players seemed to underestimate the league. You are coming from a higher division, will this happen to you as well?
No. As we have seen in the last years, all teams that got relegated into this division had problems in their first season. I know the league because I've played there for Austria Lustenau before and because of that I know that it is a more fight based football here than in the Austrian Bundesliga but the fighting strength is one of my goodness so I don't think that I'll have problems.



We noticed during training that your passing game is really good and that you always have the eye for your team-mate. What are your other strengths?
I'm a team-player, I want to win every game and I think that I'm a tall, duel winning player and as you have mentioned I've got a great passing game but despite of all that my technique is good as well.

You meet some old friends with Jürgen Säumel (CM) and Deutschmann (CD) here and you will build a defensive triangle with them. Is that a benefit for you?
I know them very well from my time at Wiener Neustadt and we've got along there very well so I think that that is a really good basis for the start. I've played with Pichlmann (Striker) together as well so this could be an axis were we know each other better than the others.

Are you already familiar with the live here?
The players haven't made it hard for me. I try to find a rhythm in my live and I have to say it's beautiful at the moment.

And what are your personal aims for the season?
Playing football successfully.

We wish you much luck with that and thank you for the interview.

Deutschlandsberg 0-2 Wacker Innsbruck
Goals: Hamzic (15), Krismer (38)

Wacker Innsbruck wins their first competitive game of the season and progresses in cup.
The black-green’s returned from their successful away trip to Styria in the early morning hours. The team managed to win their cup clash against Deutschlandsberg with a solid 2-0 win. Goals of Hamzic and youngster Krismer in the first half pointed the underdog in barriers early on.

The rest of the game gave the fans the feeling of a friendly. Schmidt gave a few young players a go and managed to keep injuries from his players away ahead of next week’s league start.

We showed the right mentality today. Games like this are often tricky but we did really well, I’m happy that we won this game but we already look forward to next week’s season opener against Florisdorf, explained manager Klaus Schmidt.

After doing their job away against amateur side Deutschlandsberg in the first round of the cup, Wacker is hopeful to step into a successful season on Friday.
The manager Klaus Schmidt named the season opener against FAC a must win game as the club wants to challenge for the top this season.

But before the league season starts, we are taking a look at the club Wacker Innsbruck.

With the Tivoli Stadion Tirol having space for 17.400 people in non-european games, the stadium is one of the biggest in Austria. The stadium hosted a few games during the EURO 2008 although the capacity was added to 32.000 for the tournament. 4500 fans have seen the Wacker games in average last season, the most of Austria's second division during last season.
The ground with a standing area of around 3000 places isn't in ownership of Wacker, the club is only the main hirer.

With the stadium belonging to the town and the event group Olympia World, the infrastructure in the stadium during match days is organised by the event group which means that Wacker Innsbruck doesn't get any money through selling drinks or food.

Coach Klaus Schmidt has got some new faces to train. With the arrivals of central midfielder Freitag and offensive all-rounder Riemann being just a few weeks ago, striker Pichlmann was signed just a few days after the club played their last game of last season. The new young full backs in the faces of Lercher and Rosenbichler (on loan) which both are count as U21 players will bring some more depth and ambition into the club.

The league, that includes 10 teams that play each other four times a season, is expected to be the most attractive second division in Austria ever. With more traditional teams coming into the league, the officials are expecting more fans in the stadiums than ever before.

With the title duel expecting to be a head on head race between rivals Linz and Innsbruck, the return of Wacker Innsbruck archrival Austria Salzburg into professional football, these games are the ones every fan of the both clubs is looking forward to the most. With Austria Klagenfurt and Austria Lustenau there are some other traditional clubs to look at although both aren't expected to have a shout on the title. Better chances to win the league may St. Pölten calculate for themselves. The club has got an underdog chance but have to be more consistent than in the last years. While the both Vienna clubs Florisdorfer AC and Wiener Neustadt are expected to fight against relegation the young bulls of Liefering are expected to play a big part in the title race although the team isn't allowed to go up as their senior squad Red Bull Salzburg plays in the first division recently. To do exactly that in two years will be a hope of everybody at Kapfenberg. The club that got relegated three seasons ago wants to challenge for the title as well however nobody is expecting them to do that.

All teams may not play more than three foreign players that are older than 21. As an extra, every match day squad has to include at least three U21 players.
The champions will go up, the last two teams are going down.

Wacker Innsbruck - Believe

1-0 to the FCW

We started into the season and we wanted to win. We wanted to win so much that everybody on the pitch seemed to have forgotten that there is something called 'tactics'.
We buzzed around like bees on the pitch but, and that's the key factor, we were the more diligent bees in the first games of the season.

But let's go step by step.

Florisdorfer AC - Wacker Innsbruck

We started our trip to Vienna the day before. We had some space left in the cargo bay - some space for three points.
Everybody was so motivated and the atmosphere in the team was just great.
After getting the some sleep, we started the activating and then, after some delicious food - for me, not for the players - for lunch we started our way to the stadium.

We knew that we are the favourites.
We knew that we put ourselves into this position.
We knew that we talked in big words before the game.
We knew that everything else than a win would be a blame against this small FAC side.

And this last thought seemed to take over the mind of the players.

The players haven't hold onto the tactical plan we had for their half. We gave the ball to easy and tried to many risky passes that gave them the chance for counter attacks but - luckily - they haven't combined to our box.
We had some chances but they weren't good and so the defenders kept us in the game with some great defending.

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And - of course - it was a defender who filled the space in the cargo bot with three points.
A corner was cleared away to the side again, Riemann took his second chance then and crossed the ball onto the head of Deutschmann in the 88th minute - just in time!
It really wasn't the start we had in mind but we got what we wanted - the three points.

Wacker Innsbruck - St. Pölten

First game of the season at home. No doubt, everything but a win would be a disappointment although we knew that St. Pölten is a very good team and that they want to fight for the title.
The fans were up for it. The atmosphere seemed to push the players but once again the tactical bid of our game was disregarded.

The players have everything and won almost every tackle but we weren't able to creat big chances. When Pichlmann missed the by far best chance of the game in the 70th minute I was sure that this game would end up in a draw.

But Hauser proved me wrong. Just 8 minutes after this chance, a cross from the right wing was cleared away but left-mid Hauser chased the ball and got to it before their defender just meters outside their box. The captain dribbled past two defenders and scored the winning goal with all of his will and passion and secured the three points for us.

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Wiener Neustadt - Wacker Innsbruck

We made our way once again and once again it was closer than expected.
We started into the game well but different to the other games. We let the ball and them run. And this really was necessary. Just three days after our home win against St. Pölten, the batteries were low. Luckily, the players finally showed that they can fulfil a tactical demand although our goal was a bit lucky once again.

Gründler picked the ball up in their box after a shot from distance was blocked by their defender. Gründler made the turn but got fouled. Penalty! Pichlmann stepped up. He hadn't scored a goal yet. But it seemed like the only one that was nervous was me. The routine striker scored with out showing nerves. 1-0 after 18. minutes.
We kept on defending well and holding the ball too. We had a few chances to seal the tie but in the end I'm happy with our first convincing performance and the 3rd win in the 3rd game of the season.

Grünwald debacle

Wacker Innsbruck – Kapfenberg

We started good into the game. We missed a few chances but then got the lead through Pichlmann who netted the ball with a great volley on the near post after a Hölzl cross. We kept on going but didn’t score and so, we conceded. Just with minutes to go, Grünwald wasn’t able to to get the ball out of the box after a free kick landed at him. The ball fell on his feet and on the feet of a Kapfenberg player who had no chance to miss that.
We lost our first points - and that completely unnecessary!

Critics For Grünwald

After his bad mistake against Kapfenberg which leaded to the equaliser for the visitors, the 33 year old vice-captain faces harsh critics. Coach Klaus Schmidt had his say as well: He is only human but you are right, he shouldn’t have conceded that. As one of the older players in the squad he should not be the one that makes mistakes but as I said, mistakes happen. It’s important that he keeps on going now!

The goalkeeper still has some enemies among the fans as he left the club in 2012 to rivals Austria Wien despite being in the same league at this moment.

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Is Pascal Grünwald on his way out?

Grünwald Set To Leave?

Pascal Grünwald left the training pitch earlier this morning after having a discussion with Manager Klaus Schmidt. The goalkeeper has reportedly woke the interest of New York City FC and French club Lorient. Is he on the skip?

Grünwald leaves

Only one year after his return, Pascal Grünwald leaves Wacker Innsbruck again. The 33-year old goalkeeper got an offer from French club Lorient and wants to make a new experience before he retires. Reports are claiming that the open critic of the coach and the fans after his mistake three days ago against Kapfenberg were the shutter of his decision to leave. Wacker Innsbruck will receive a fee of €400.000. Wacker has reportedly already a look on another 2nd division goalkeeper. The staff will have to act fast if the new keeper should be available for next weekend’s game against Austria Lustenau.

Nice start to the story so far mate, good luck!

i read all and i love it
good luck man!

@joethequin & yuvaldavid123 thanks for the kind comments guys, really appreciat it!

Keeper signs

Just one day after Grünwald's department, Wacker Innsbruck announces the vice-captains replacement. The ex-St. Pölten goalkeeper Patrick Kostner signs for a fee of €110.000. An agreement was for the 27-year old reached before Grünwald officially left the club but the transfer wasn't completed until Grünwald's departure was official as the club didn't want to risk the club's finances. Kostner could already feature in Wacker's game against Austria Lustenau this weekend.


Wacker Innsbruck - Austria Lustenau

We arrived at the stadium early and we felt that the fans were up for it. We saw that a fans prepared a tifo and this really gave us the last kick.
The players were on fire when they left the changing room. The warm up was very intense and I felt the fire in the players.



When we walked on the pitch, we were ready! We started with tempo, determination and passion! We chased every lost ball, we won almost every tackle and we got our chances.
And not long in, we scored!
Thomas Pichlmann was the name the fans chanted after just 4 minutes. He was in the right place in the right time once again. 1-0, that was the start we deserved.

And we kept going!

We got shot's away and 10 minutes later, one found his way into the net.
A Gründler shot was blocked but felt to Mcic who hammered it behind their keeper.
Lustenau didn't know what was going on and so we scored another just before half-time.
Jürgen Säumel scored from the edge of the box with a fine curl just underneath the crossbar.

With the referee blowing his whistle for half-time, we all were satisfied as never before in this season.
I was a bit worried that they would get one back early on as we were too complacent in my opinion so I brought on a few younger players and so we started the second half as we started the first.
We were up for it and sealed the win after just 60. minutes when Alex Gründler finished a great combination.

After that, we started to save energy for the next games and so we conceded just a few minutes before the end.

It's too bad that Kostner couldn't start of with a clean-sheet but he will be happy with the win for sure.

http://sportnet.at/images/uploads_620/a/8/7/4848263/SOCCER---Erste-Liga-Liefering-vs-Wacker_1445368144993998.jpg

Liefering - Wacker Innsbruck

It was a strange feeling to drive to the stadium really. You never know what to expect from the games against Liefering. You don't even know their squad until match day as they just swap their players with their first team Red Bull Salzburg as they want week by week.

When I had a look at their team I was pretty optimistic. I expected a much better team.
But we still had problems with them. The 250 fans in the stadium which almost completly existed of our fans and scouts saw a Pichlmann getting on the score sheet once again.

In a drab match, the striker found the net with a header after 60 minutes. But the one who secured the three points for us was Kostner. 4 great saves during the last minutes of the match gave us another 1-0 win and a boost of confidence ahead of next week's big clash against LASK Linz!

Losing

Hölzl hands in transfer request

With a few clubs being interested in the right midfielder, the players now wants to move on. With this message reaching the board just a day before the top showdown between Innsbruck and Linz, the player is likely to feature in this game despite his request. If an offer is made, Wacker Innsrbuck might accept it as the club needs the money.

Wacker Innsbruck - Linz

Both teams tactics were perfect, no team made space for the opponent which gave the fans nothing to cheer for really. Until the 30th minute.

A Säumel through ball found Pichlmann who passed it on to Riemann and the German scored. The elation amongst players and fans only lasted short as the linesman waved for offside. A very close and likely a wrong decision.

http://www.sky.at/static/img/fussball/R12_LASK-IBK-Pichlmann-Ramsebner_16.9_rdax_70.jpg

But this moment changed the game completely. Both teams had chances and it was Linz who scored first, just a few seconds before half time.
A cross to the far post was finished easily and so we needed to score in the second half. But all the risk we took wasn't paying off as they hit us on the counter two times at the end.
A maybe fair but surely a far to high loss.

In and out

Hölzl leaves Wacker Innsbruck just two days after the clubs first loss of the season and just one day before the transfer window shuts and joins Club Brügge. The €500.000 fee that the club received from the Belgians for the routine player will fill the budget of the club and give the manager far more money to build a team that can give the fans what they want - the Bundesliga!
But the replacement of Hölzl haven't made the most fans happy. The 32-year old winger Steiner joins the club from the 5th tier of German football and only costed €1000. The Austrian might not be in the starting line-up too often but a back-up for Riemann, who is expected to move from the left to the right wing.

Very nice looking story, will try to follow!

@Dippofix thanks mate, really appreciate it!

Struggling

Wacker gets defender just in time

With 34-year old Markus Thorandt not being the young defender many would have hoped for, Klaus Schmidt said that the German is a player who will add experience and depth into the squad and will help the young players to get better. The central defender who arrived for a fee of €20.000 from German side St. Pauli signed a one year long contract.

Austria Klagenfurt – Wacker Innsbruck

We arrived with much hope at Klagenfurt. We prepared good over the international break but with Deutschmann injured, our most consistent defender so far missed. New arrival Thorandt started his first match for us.

And he was the main man straight away.

http://www.skysportaustria.at/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/export_3687271_9525.jpg

With a few good clearances in the first half, he helped us to get the 0-0 into half time. It was a shocking first half from the boys – and the second didn’t get better.
We had no creativity in our movement and weren’t able to get some chances.
But it seemed as we would get at least a point despite our bad performance.

But the end came how it had to come.

Our new man Thorand, who really played well so far slided into a cross and deflected it into the net. A well-deserved loss with a tragic end.

Wacker Innsbruck – Florisdorfer AC

We were extremely motivated. We wanted to end our winless drought with everything we had.
And everything went well at the beginning.

Christoph Freitag gave us the lead after just 10 minutes with a great long range effort. We controlled the game afterwards and it seemed as would not get any problems this evening.
But we failed to get the second and so the old saying – you concede the goals you don’t score – got true once again

With their first real chance they scored the equaliser in the 80th minute. Although it was a great combination, it was everything but fair. Nevertheless, we dropped two points and lost the lead of the league.

With the first real Westderby against Austria Salzburg since 10 years being a week away, we have to get confidence back immediately. We are not allowed to drop points there!

Some great updates on this, keep it up

@Jack nice to here this from such an experienced a great writer, thanks a lot!

The wait is over

After ten years, the Westderby between Wacker Innsbruck and Austria Salzburg will finally be back this Friday!

Both clubs have a similar story.

While Wacker was promoted into the 3rd division in 2002, Austria Salzburg said "Good bye" to professional football as the club was overtaken by Red Bull in 2005. Most of Salzburg's fans weren't happy and founded the club new and started in the last division of Austrian Football. Now, 10 years later, the club is back in professional football and meets their fiercest rival Wacker Innsbruck for the first time in professional football since 2005.

The only games between these two sides during the last years were between the second team of Wacker and the first team of Austria Salzburg. Around the meetings, there always were riots between the fans.

http://www.ultras.at/archiv/200203/c4/big2.jpg

Salzburg fans destroyed the toilets and the seats in Wacker's Tivoli stadium. Some say this is something like a revenge attack as fans of Wacker Innsbruck smuggled a pig into the stadium, wrapped it in an Austria Salzburg scarf and let it run over the pitch during one of the last games between the sides in professional football.

Now, in a few days, the game will finally be back.

The fans, the players and the police are ready - bring it on!

Wacker Innsbruck - Austria Salzburg

We were feeling the passion in midweek. The fans supported us during training and now, the day is here. It makes it extra special for me as I face the club that I left last winter. I’m pretty sure their fans won’t like me that much but honestly, I don’t care!
It’s a Derby and that makes it just better!

When we headed to the stadium 3 hours before the match we felt the power of the game. The fans welcomed us when we came on the pitch for warm-up. The pressure was high but I felt as my players are able to deal with it.

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As the game started, every tactic, every instructions and every resolution was lost.
Fouls, fouls and more fouls – this were the first 10 minutes!
After that, Salzburg started to control the game. And they scored. Katnik finished a great cross of Tchoyi and gave the visitors the lead after half an hour.

But the answer of the fans and the boys was outstanding!

We wanted the equaliser as fast as possible and we got shots away. And we scored just before half time. But not one, not two but three times!
After 38. Minutes, our fans cheered the first time. Rene Renner ended a great Pichlmann through ball and levelled the game.
Three minutes later, the two were involved again. A cross of the youngster found the head of Pichlmann who gave us the lead!
And it got even better! In the first minute of extra time, we scored the 3-1.
Micic set up Pichlmann and the forward sent the teams into half time with the best goal of the evening so far.

After half time, Austria Salzburg played like a different team. And they got one back after just 10 minutes. Bukva set up Bingöl and their fans felt hope again.
The atmosphere was buzzing and loud. And after their goal, it was the game of the start. Fouls, fouls and fouls. Freitag got injured through one of their fouls and this was the moment when the emotions started to kick in. The referee had to book half of the players on the pitch. We brought on home-grown striker Gründler.
He added even more passion into the game. He chased every ball and got rewarded for that late in the game.

Pichlmann played an over the top ball that actually was a bit too strong but Gründler reached it just before the touch line. He cut inside and chipped it into the goal in the 87th minute.
The celebrations were unbelievable!

Derby Winner & Top Of The League – a perfect day!

Confidence

FC Kufstein – Wacker Innsbruck

We haven’t expected a tough when we got on the bus for our trip to our neighbours Kufstein and that’s why we started with an extremely young line-up in this cup tie.
And it seemed as things would go to plan as Steiner scored his first goal for the club after we signed the experienced man in summer. But Kustein hit back immediately and scored the equaliser just minutes later. We took the lead again after half time as young lad Simon Pirkl scored his first goal of the season. And it was the 18-year old again who scored for us and gave us the win as well after Kufstein scored the equaliser in the interim time.

St. Pölten – Wacker Innsbruck

We pushed ourselves on our long way to St. Pölten. We knew that the pressure is on us now and that Wiener Neustadt and Linz are hunting us. The boys dealt with that pressure really well and got the deserved lead after 13 minutes after an own goal. We kept on going but failed to score another and so it was ex-St.Pölten man Kostner who secured our lead to half-time with a great save in injury time of the first half. We controlled the second half then and scored the winning goal after an hour as central defender Deutschmann headed the ball in after a corner and secured the win which took us one point ahead of next week’s opponent Wiener Neustadt.

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Wacker Innsbruck – Wiener Neustadt

The feeling you have before such an important game is just unexplainable. The only good thing is that you know that everybody around you feels the same. That everybody around you is ready to give everything for the win. The team spirit was just unbelievable and we knew that we were the best team in the league at this moment.

That knowledge gave us the confidence to play second place Wiener Neustadt as it was our second team. We scored after just seven minutes. A Renner corner found the head of Siller who headed it in. Only a few minutes later, we doubled our lead! Renner passed it to Micic who curled it into the far corner from the edge of the box. We controlled the game after that and controlled possession. We were so confidential that they haven’t even had the chance to get the ball. We played on like that after half time and sealed the victory half an hour before the end as Pichlmann finished a great Freitag through ball.

We are still top of the league – only four months after we almost went down!