Neither side could score in this important game for both sides. Tomas Pirka who has played for UFC Pamhagen since 2012 (since I’ve been watching Pamhagen) played a big role in frustrating the SC Kittsee attack. Libor Hrdlicka was excellent in net. Not much satisfaction for players or photographers. No goals, no triumph, no despair just grey rain and dirty uniforms.

These photos were shot with an Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 135mm f2.5 manual focus lens from 1968.

Vintage SMC Takumar 135mm f2.5 from 1968

There’s certainly better technique required with manual focus sport. The ideal is to set oneself up parallel to the action so that the players remain in focus during a sequence. Most difficult is to shoot an onrushing player. There’s a lot less contrast in these older lenses. They are much better stopped down to f3.5 or f4 (which is how the photographers of the time shot them in daylight), which is what I did after a time.

Continue reading Gritty rainy 0-0 draw with UFC Pamhagen at uncoy.

SC Breitenbrunn’s visit to Kittsee was a high scoring affair, 3:2 in favour of the home team. The match was decided in the end by a beautiful penalty shot by Frantisek Nagy, after Aleksandar Stanojcic was left injured in the penalty box after a brutal collision.

SC Breitenbrunn was promoted just this season from Burgenland I Klasse – coming in to SC Kittsee and going goal-for-goal in a close game is a very good result. Their coaching team of Alexander Janisch and former Kittsee coach Erwin Raithofer did impressive work winning I Klasse Nord. Coach Raithofer’s presence on the sidelines gave Breitenbrunn a good insight into the SC Kittsee game as the core players remain the same since his 2021-2022 season as SC Kittsee coach.

Sadly, like many recently promoted clubs SC Breitenbrunn is at risk of immediate relegation.

Continue reading At home SC Kittsee outscores a resilient SC Breitenbrunn at uncoy.

It was a beautiful day, sun, warm weather. A wonderful day for a trip to Pama for the annual derby on SK Pama’s excellent field. Except that only SK Pama showed up on 17 September. SK Pama systematically marked goal after goal on their way to a final 3:1 result. As the SC Kittsee photographer, I placed myself at the SK Pama end to catch our highlights. There are not many photographs. I don’t have the excellent SK Pama goals as I was at the wrong end, as one of the SK Pama fans warned me at half-time.

Congratulations to SK Pama on pulling the team back together after a difficult 2022-2023 season. Curiously it’s mostly the same players and same coaching staff. Whatever was wrong, SK Pama has fixed.

Ruppitsch was tested early and often by the Kittsee attack.

Continue reading SK Pama overwhelms SC Kittsee in 2023 Derby at uncoy.

SC Kittsee were clearly the better team on Friday night. Still, after knocking in a single goal at 36 minutes, the SC Kittsee attack decided to take a fifty minute break until the last ten minutes. SC Kittsee came out winners despite living dangerously this time. There was no reason to leave the result of the game in doubt and leave a lifeline in SV Gols hands until the very end. In the last eight minutes, the SC Kittsee attack came alive again and enjoyed several excellent chances on goal.

Unnecessary yellow cards continue to be the bane of SC Kittsee’s starting eleven. There were games last season where up to five players were sitting out due to cards. Tomas Bastian picked one up, as did Patrick Pail. Pail at least was dragging down a Gols player who might have broken away one on one.

Continue reading SC Kittsee waits out tight victory over SV Gols at uncoy.

The last game of the 2023 season did not go according to plan. ASV Steinbrunn who recently came up from 1 Klasse Nord to II Liga Nord defeated SC Kittsee at Sportsplatz in Kittsee, with just a single goal scored between the two teams. Here’s some images from a game which started off well for SC Kittsee before it went off the rails.

With the talent on the roster, SC Kittsee should have been able to score four or five goals.

Children from the U6 team join the main team on the pitch for coin toss
After the coin toss the children are told to run off the field as fast as they can, which they really enjoy
Mustafa enjoyed a big evening, almost unstoppable at the beginning of the game but was unable to put the ball in.

Continue reading Close loss at home to ASV Steinbrunn at uncoy.

In a dominant performance, ASV Deutsch Jahrndorf locked up second place in II Liga Nord over third place SC Kittsee with one game to go. The fearsome SC Kittsee attack with the most goals in the league was unable to crack the stalwart ASV Deutsch Jahrndorf defence.

Deutsch Jahrndorf keeper Michael Unger manages to control the ball
The game looked promising for SC Kittsee early.
Deutsch Jahrndorf enjoyed the advantage in play and this was a well-earned goal.
Carsten Lang puts his shoulder into Kittsee keeper Manuel Schiszler
Tobias Wisak was fouled. The yellow cards were less of a mystery than the free kicks
Sombat had a few chances but was unable to dominate against the steady Deutsch Jahrndorf defense
One of the best SC Kittsee chances
Manuel Schiszler did well to keep SC Kittsee in the game. There were no shortages of Deutsch Jahrndorf chances
Another good chance but there were not so many of them for SC Kittsee.

Continue reading ASV Deutsch Jahrndorf locks up second place II Liga Nord at uncoy.

It was a hard fought match. SC Kittsee enjoyed a goal off the opening kick off from Captain Michael Wernecker (1′) but despite a dozen decent chances was unable to knock in a second goal until the end of regular time. UFC Pamhagen looked very dangerous at the end of the second half. SC Kittsee was fortunate not to end with a late game tie.

This is an excellent Austrian tradition. The U8 or another young team joins the main team for their entrance to the field, once per season. It’s to encourage them to continue to play.
The exit is more exciting than the entrance when the energetic young players run off the field.
SC Kittsee could not get off to a better start. A neat couple of passes from the kickoff put Michael Wernecker in front of the UFC Pamhagen net where he promptly scored.

Continue reading Triumph in the rain: SC Kittsee ascends to third place with victory over UFC Pamhagen at uncoy.

The final score was 2:0 in SC Kittsee’s favour. The second goal came only at 92 minutes. The game was very competitive with both sides giving it their all. There were a couple of close calls in the second half which would have made it a 1:1 game.

Both goals came off the boot of Jozef Sombat who had an excellent game, as did Adam Bombicz, Michael Wernecker and Juraj Fuska. Here’s what the game looked like.

Jaroslav Machovec was in fine form again.
While the ball went past Roman Ostojic, Daniel Pfeiffer quite correctly has his hand raised for offside.
While the ball went past Roman Ostojic, Daniel Pfeiffer quite correctly raises his hand for offside.
There was no real threat here with a a high ball which FC Winden keeper Roman Ostojic easily captured but Kittsee’s steady pressure up close gradually knocked Ostojic off his game.

Continue reading SC Kittsee triumphs at home over FC Winden in hard fought game at uncoy.

UFC Pama won their home derby against SC Kittsee this year, 1:0, on what started as a sunny afternoon. Very quickly the sun slid behind the clouds as did SC Kittsee’s chances. The flat lighting was ideal for black and white photography so the opening set is in black and white this year.

SC Kittsee came out of the gate very flat. What was wrong with our game:

• timing: first game of the season, passes were not arriving where and when expected. Or the forwards did not arrive where the passes did. Take your pick.
• injuries: three of our best players were not available though this derby is the first game of the season.
• fitness: timing and injuries is forgivable. Unfortunately most of our squad were unable to keep up with UFC Pama throughout the game.

Continue reading SC Kittsee falls to a fit UFC Pama in Drei-Ecke Derby at uncoy.

SC Kittsee struggled to beat a club in the top four last week. ASV Deutsch Jahrndorf controlled the game. This weekend at home we faced FC Illmitz who is the third of the three clubs including SC Kittsee contending for second place in II Liga Nord fall season.

The substantial crowd for the last home game at 17h on Saturday faced an unpleasant early surprise when Thomas Wickl scored after two minutes. The rest of the first half was fairly evenly matched with Mustafa Atik equalising at the end of the half. In the second half, SC Kittsee enjoyed breakaway after breakaway and notched two more goals. A decisive win over a worthy opponent, which bodes well for the spring season.

The game was very exciting and I have a lot of photos. Here’s the first seventeen including mostly the goals.

Continue reading Decisive Win over FC Illmitz at uncoy.