Relegation duel in the Regionalliga Bayern: Bottom of the table FC Pipinsried travels to the table penultimate Heimstetten. Nobody wants to go to the Bayernliga with the Red Lantern.
Pipinsried – With three matchdays to go, the ultimate relegation duel will take place in the Bavarian Regional Football League: This Saturday at 14 p.m., second-to-last SV Heimstetten will host FC Pipinsried, who are at the bottom of the table. Both are level on points, but the hosts have a goal difference of minus 44, while FCP are currently at minus 55.
Who will take the red lantern to the Bayernliga? This question will not be finally clarified this afternoon, but there could be some kind of preliminary decision. "We definitely don't want to be relegated at the bottom of the table, so we'll give everything to win in Heimstetten," promises FCP's sporting director, Enver Maltas.
Player-coach Herbert Paul, who suffered a thigh injury in last weekend's match against Augsburg, will be absent. "It doesn't make sense to use it. He tried it in training last Thursday, it just doesn't work," said Maltas. Marvin Jike will not be in Heimstetten either. The striker has been complaining of knee problems for weeks. Jike has been to the specialist in the meantime, fortunately it is not a major problem. Nevertheless, Jike was prescribed a two-week break by the attending physician, as there is apparently still some fluid in his knee.
Since central defenders Fabian Willibald and Simon Raucheder are also absent in addition to Herbert Paul, the personnel situation in FCP's defensive area is precarious.
The Pipinsried team have bad memories of the first leg. After 96 minutes it was 1-0. Heimstetten equalised in the closing seconds when keeper Moritz Knauf scored spectacularly with a side-kick. In doing so, he made up for his capital buck, which had led to the Pipinsried leadership.
Even back in October, it became clear what FC Pipinsried lacks most: a goal threat. 33 goals from 35 games underline this fact. In order not to finish bottom of the table, the Pipinsrieders must score at least one goal more than their hosts. And SV Heimstetten has a striker in its ranks in Lukas Riglewski, who has always scored in double figures in the regional league in recent years.