No goal yet

Grünau’s goalgetter hopes for an end to the goal drought

Nika is still looking for his goalscoring touch.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Three games, only one goal scored: Wals-Grünau's attacking record in the Regionalliga West leaves a lot to be desired so far. Goal scorer Petrit Nika is still without a goal in the new season. But he is not lacking in self-confidence.

Three games, only one goal scored: Wals-Grünau's offense still has a lot of sand in its gears at the start of the new Western League season. So the cup game against Gneis/ASK/PSV on Tuesday came at just the right time at the start of the English week. The team from Flachgau won 3:0 against the club from the 2nd Landesliga Nord, which certainly boosted their confidence.

However, the one player who came away empty-handed in this game - as in every other so far this season - was striker Petrit Nika, who came on as a substitute in the 66th minute. Having netted 18 times in the previous season, he still hasn't got his aim perfectly on target. "Yes, the first goal is a long time coming," said the Freilassinger, taking it easy. "I'm in top shape and believe that the knot has to burst first." In terms of play, he is not yet as well set up as he was in pre-season, and the entire offense needs to work on its precision. "We're still missing the last pass forward, we often make the wrong decision," says the 31-year-old.

Casualty list is getting smaller
That should change on Friday (19:30) against Kufstein and Nika's goal drought should come to an end. "We're very positive going into the game, the cup game on Tuesday did us good," says the striker.

One positive for Austria Salzburg is that the injury list is getting smaller. New signings Milos Savic and Fabian Windhager are set to make their comebacks after back oedema and a muscle injury respectively. Stephan Dorfmayr will have to be patient. Schaider's team will be looking for another three-pointer at the Schnabelholz Stadium in Altach on Saturday (14:30).