The battle of nerves in the Emmental

What a match it will be, what a nerve-racking battle! SCL Tigers – Kloten on Saturday night. It’s the game of the season for both teams. And not in her best moment of the season. Kloten won only two of the last eleven games. Dropped out of the pre-playoff rankings, falling to 11th place after losing 2–3 at home on a penalty shoot-out against Lausanne. Kloten falters and has to be careful not to drop even lower after a previously formidable season with long stretches. With a loss at the SCL Tigers.

Kloten took guts from being able to take on the in-form Lausanne on Friday night, grabbing a point to extend the reserve to playout rank 13 and the SCL Tigers to five points. “We depend on points, so we take this one too, although it could have been more,” said captain Steve Kellenberger after the game.

Injury bad luck at the wrong time

Things are even gloomier for the SCL Tigers. The only two wins from the last nine games let them slide into penultimate place. In addition, the Emmentalers are plagued in this crucial phase of the season by bad luck with injuries to important foreign players. First, Vili Saarijärvi dropped out after the national team’s break. Then came the thrombosis drama around Marc Michaelis, who had to end the season. Aleksi Saarela was missing on Friday in the fateful 1-0 defeat at Ajoie and Cody Eakin played but is injured.

A lot comes together in Langnau, which, like Kloten, has been able to sell its skins at high prices for a long time this season. But now, due to these failures, we have to settle for serious quality losses time and time again. It is quite possible that trainer Thierry Paterlini will fall back on Haralds Egle from Latvia for the first time for the match against Kloten in der Not, who joined the team with a B license from Langenthal.

Kellenberger speaks of patience

“It will be a waiting game. It is all the more important that we are even better in defense”, said Kloten-Captain Kellenberger prior to this nervous battle. It would help his team if Defense Minister Lucas Ekestahl-Jonsson could make the trip to the Emmental. The Swede was on Friday still absent due to illness. The SCL Tigers want to tackle the game with courage. Striker Flavio Schmutz explained to neo1: “We just didn’t score the goals against Ajoie. But if we can create that much against Kloten, then we can score goals again.”

Source : Blick