- Yverdon-Sport celebrates a hard-fought 3-2 win at home against GC. Nevertheless, going into the relegation group is certain.
- GC always fights back into the game despite an early red card against Joshua Laws, but ends up empty-handed.
- There are no winners in the other games of the day. YB gets a point late in St. Gallen and Lucerne and Lausanne end goalless.
8 minutes had been played when most of the 2,400 fans in the Stade Municipal were able to celebrate a truly dream goal. Kevin Carlos, the Spaniard in the employ of the Vaudois team, grabbed the ball in midfield, positioned it and simply shot from a good 25 meters. With success: His powerful shot landed behind GC goalie Justin Hammel via the underside of the crossbar and into the net.
Only a little later things got even worse for the weak Zurich team. After a hair-raising bad pass from Dirk Abels, Joshua Laws came too late against the fast Carlos and brought him down as the last man. Referee Nico Gianforte didn’t hesitate for a second and sent the Australian defender to the shower in the 22nd minute.
GC fights back
Anyone who saw this as a preliminary decision was taught otherwise. The guests from Zurich didn’t allow much when they were outnumbered and had good chances themselves towards the end of the first half. Francis Momoh narrowly missed a cross in the 41st minute. 2 minutes later the Nigerian netted from a tight angle. However, Gianforte decided on a goal kick because the ball was probably just out of the goal.
After the break, Bruno Berner’s team rewarded themselves for their effort. Pascal Schürpf was forgotten in the penalty area in the 52nd minute following a corner and scored the equalizer. Yverdon reacted immediately and restored the lead 2 turns later through Ricardo Alves.
Only a little later came the next controversial referee decision against GC. The referee pointed to the spot after two potential handballs in the GC penalty area. Boris Cespedes stepped up and converted safely into the left corner.
Yverdon definitely in the relegation group
But the guests were not discouraged by this setback. In the 63rd minute, after a cross from Abels, Schürpf once again scored with his inside instep into the corner of the connecting goal. However, it was no longer enough for the eleventh in the table, as Yverdon subsequently narrowed the space at the back and hardly allowed any more chances.
Thanks to St. Gallen’s simultaneous point win, Yverdon is now definitely a participant in the relegation group. However, the home team overtook FCB again and finished 9th, 7 points ahead of GC and the Barrage place. The Grasshoppers are now already 6 points behind the 10th place, but are still 7 points ahead of bottom team Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy.
This is how it continues
Both teams will continue their relegation battle next Saturday. Yverdon will be appearing in the live game (from 8:10 p.m. on SRF two) in St. Gallen. GC will face the in-form Lugano at home in the early evening.