St. Pölten against Ried

An exhibition match in front of the investor

Christoph Witamwas takes over St. Pölten for the last four rounds.(Bild: SKN St. Pölten)

Five games, four defeats, one draw: St. Pölten's tally from the last few games almost reads as if they had already finished the second division season. Coach Philipp Semlic ended his last Friday, resigning after the 0-0 draw in Leoben. "Co" Christoph Witamwas (36) took over on an interim basis for the final four rounds, but first had to sleep on the decision.

 "Philipp and I have a good relationship. But I'm a soccer coach, so it quickly became clear to me that I wanted to do this." In other words: get St. Pölten back on track at the finish. His debut as head coach will be a tough one, however, with second-placed Ried coming to Traisen on Friday evening. "There are certainly easier opponents," grins Witamwas. "Nevertheless, we want to play our game. Passion and virtues are required." And ease. "We have to get the insecurity out of our heads. They're all great footballers."

Who will be eyed up by the new investor on Friday. Australian Paul Francis, who is set to join SKN, is on a visit to St. Pölten and will drop by the NV-Arena. Witamwas nods: "Nothing changes. We're just concentrating on the sport."

Stripfing looks upwards
While Admira will face Leoben in today's hit, it is still unclear how many teams will actually have to go down in the end. Leoben, Dornbirn and regional league team Austria Salzburg are still trembling for admission. "It's rather unrealistic that all three will get the sticker," said Stripfing's head of sport Alex Grünwald, who doesn't want to leave anything to chance in the relegation battle. "We're not looking at others. If we keep playing like this, we can also make up ground at the top," he says, aiming for victory in Bregenz today.