Teams in need of personnel

Even the analyst had to be substituted

Jekabs Laguns already played for BSK a few years ago.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

The Westliga clubs are slowly running out of players. Bischofshofen had to bring on the assistant for the match against leaders Imst, who unexpectedly made his Westliga debut.Austria Salzburg are desperately looking for defenders.

The winter break can't come soon enough for some Westliga clubs. Austria Salzburg's performance curve has dropped significantly over the past few games, and they suffered their second defeat of the season against Dornbirn on Saturday.

To make matters worse, coach Christian Schaider will probably have to give up Fonjga. "He took a blow to the thigh with his knee, I hope he'll be fit again quickly. We're slowly running out of central defenders," sighed the coach. Kahrimanovic is back, but Gruber will continue to suffer from a cruciate ligament rupture, while Theiner is needed on the left of the back line. But the defending champions are not the only club with injury worries.

Gavrilo Fonjga (right) took a blow to the thigh.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Unexpected Western League debut: BSK analyst Laguns.(Bild: zVg)

Hospitalized with a shoulder injury: Grünau's Ebner (left).(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Unexpected debut
Bischofshofen has been plagued by a shortage of personnel for several weeks now. Coach Thomas Schnöll has had to see how he can fill the substitutes' bench week after week. In the 3-0 defeat against Imst, the head coach made a curious substitution: Jekabs Laguns came on in the 61st minute. The personal assistant to club decision-maker Patrick Reiter, U14 coach and video analyst for Schnöll thus made his unexpected debut in the Regionalliga West. "We can no longer compensate for the absences," said the 33-year-old, who can't wait for the long winter break. "In terms of personnel, we simply can't go on." Defender Gertig was also injured during the warm-up.

Wals-Grünau's list of absentees also got longer in the defeat in Kuchl. David Ebner had to be substituted during the break with a shoulder injury and was subsequently taken to hospital. "It feels like we have four new additions this spring," said coach Christoph Knaus. With Hauk, Scheibenhofer, Sabic and Kadrija, four squad players are currently missing.

It was more drastic at St. Johann. Coach Andreas Scherer was missing nine men. But the coach gave the all-clear: "They'll be back soon." Three players were suspended, some "only" have to recover from illness.