Blue and White coach: “The victory was stolen from us”

The blue and white frequent travelers are going on tour again: After being eliminated in the ÖFB Cup quarter-finals at Altach on Thursday (0:2), the FC Blau-Weiß Linz kickers only climbed off the bus from the journey home from the Ländle this Friday evening – Tomorrow at noon this will take coach Gerald Scheiblehner’s team to their next goal: the next away game in the Bundesliga is scheduled for Sunday at Hartberg (2.30 p.m.).

After the morning training, the blue and white team sets off for Styria – an opponent awaits who was even closer to the quarter-finals in the English Cup week than the blue and whites: Coach Markus Schopp’s team forced series champions Salzburg went to penalties, but had to admit defeat. “Hartberg is having an incredible season, they deserve to be in the top six and will stay there,” said coach Gerald Scheiblehner, full of praise for tomorrow’s opponents.

The 46-year-old draws a comparison with a former Bundesliga club from Upper Austria: “You shouldn’t downplay the town of Hartberg, their team is really good. It’s a bit comparable to Pasching, who were never taken very seriously in the past.”

Both teams will probably still have the past cup games in their bones: Hartberg, because it had a 120-minute fight with the Bulls, and the Linzers, who had to compete on difficult pitch conditions in Vorarlberg and also had one day less to regenerate had. Apart from minor injuries, the Linzer kickers survived the cup battle unscathed.

“A victory was stolen from us”

Despite the elimination, Scheiblehner took positive things with him: “We rotated and used a lot of players. Nevertheless, the performance was very good. It was a huge step in further development, many players also recommended themselves for future tasks. I am very satisfied.”

He may have been less satisfied with the performance of referee Sebastian Gishamer and his team: Blau-Weiß should have received a penalty in the ninth minute when Conor Noß was clearly pulled back on his jersey in the penalty area by Altach defender Felix Strauss. Scheiblehner: “Then it would have been 1-0. A victory was stolen from us. Everyone in the stadium saw it, except the referee. Such blatantly wrong decisions are not acceptable, but it is more important to our referees that the overcoats are on Warm up properly and the coach doesn’t leave the coaching zone.”