ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 19 Reviews

FK Austria Wien 2-1 CASHPOINT SCR Altach

Austria Vienna beat Altach to make it two wins from as many matches since the winter break and move within one point of city rivals Rapid ahead of the 342^nd Vienna derby next weekend. Despite the late-notice loss of Muharem Huskovic to injury, the Violets looked strong going forward and had a lovely curling effort into the top corner from Dominik Fitz ruled out for a handball in the build-up. But the breakthrough eventually came on the 35-minute mark when Huskovic’s replacement Alexander Schmidt slotted home after Romeo Vui’s acrobatic effort was parried into his path by Altach goalie Tobias Schützenauer. Bayern loanee Frans Krätzig doubled the lead with a lovely low strike – his first Bundesliga goal – on the stroke of half-time. The hosts were reduced to 10 men in the second half when Vui picked up his team’s seventh red card of the season, and Christian Gebauer spectacularly halved the deficit with 12 minutes to go, but Michael Wimmer’s charges ultimately held on for the three points.

FC Blau-Weiß Linz 1-1 FC Red Bull Salzburg

Having ended Red Bull Salzburg’s 45 Bundesliga home game unbeaten run in the reverse fixture, Blau-Weiß Linz proved to be the party poopers once again as they held the reigning champions to a draw on home turf. But the game got off to a historically bad start for the Linzers as Salzburg forward Petar Ratkov charged down home keeper Nicolas Schmid straight from kick-off to score after only six seconds – the fastest goal in half a century of Bundesliga action. Fortunately for Gerald Scheiblehner, his team were back on level terms 11 minutes later when Manuel Maranda rounded off a beautifully executed free-kick routine with an emphatic header into the back of the net. The Red Bulls were on the front foot in the second half and came closest to a winner when Luka Sui hit the foot of the post, but they ultimately could not find a way through against the hosts, who had Kristijan Dobras sent off for a studs-up challenge in stoppage time. Gerhard Struber’s leaders remain two points clear of Sturm Graz, while BWL stay ninth on 19 points.

RZ Pellets WAC 4-1 WSG Tirol

The only team to score more than two goals on Bundesliga Matchday 19 was Wolfsberger AC, who demolished a hapless WSG Tirol side 4-1 in Carinthia. The opening goal came after eight minutes when Augustine Boakye, who had been in hospital with respiratory problems only the weekend before, threaded the ball through to Thierno Ballo, who slotted coolly past Adam Stejskal. The duo also teamed up for the second goal on the half-hour mark with Boakye serving up another assist for Ballo to double the advantage in acres of space. Double goalscorer Ballo then turned provider five minutes into the second half when he waltzed through the WSG defence and played in Bernhard Zimmermann. Osarenren Okungbowa did pull a goal back for the Tyroleans with a quarter of an hour to go, but Adis Jaši re-established WAC’s three-goal cushion in the 89^th minute to seal a comfortable win for Manfred Schmid’s charges. Wolfsberg are eighth with 26 points – two points off the top six with three games to go.

TSV Egger Glas Hartberg 0-0 LASK

The match-up between Hartberg and LASK fell somewhat short of expectations as the fourth-placed Styrians and the third-placed Upper Austrians played out a goalless draw. LASK, who were without ill captain and talisman Robert ulj, came within a whisker of opening the scoring when Moses Usor thundered the ball against the crossbar following Filip Stojkovi’s layoff. Stojkovi and Usor were in the thick of the action again a short while later and believed they had taken the lead through the Nigerian, only for the Montenegrin to have been deemed offside in the build-up. Hosts Hartberg were reduced to 10 men midway through the second period when Ousmane Diakité was adjudged to have stamped on his opponent in a collision with Valon Berisha. LASK, however, could not make the numerical advantage count and remain five points behind Sturm in third (34 points). The result saw Hartberg drop down to fifth (30).

SC Austria Lustenau 0-1 SK Austria Klagenfurt

Austria Lustenau were unable to build on their sole victory of the season last time out as they were condemned to a slender defeat by Championship Round-chasing Klagenfurt in foggy Bregenz. The decisive moment of the game came a couple of minutes before the interval when Sinan Karweina latched on to a pass from Nicolas Binder on the right, sidestepped Luca Meisl and rolled the ball into the corner of Domenik Schierl’s goal. The German is now the outright top scorer in the division with 10 goals. Andreas Heraf reshuffled his pack and changed up the system at the halfway mark, but Klagenfurt posed the greater threat and won a penalty for a foul on Karweina by Kennedy Boateng. To the surprise of onlookers and the delight of the home faithful, the usually so trusty marksman missed the Carinthians’ first spot-kick of the campaign, but Peter Pacult’s team still held on for a relatively comfortable win in the end.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 1-1 SK Rapid

Sturm Graz failed to capitalise on Salzburg dropping points to Blau-Weiß Linz the day before as they were held to a draw by Rapid. Christian Ilzer’s men got off to a promising start at the highly atmospheric Merkur Arena: the game was only six minutes old when Tomi Horvat’s outswinging corner-kick from the left was headed under Niklas Hedl and into the net by Dimitri Lavalée, who notched his first Bundesliga goal. But Rapid restored parity shortly before half-time and – as is so often the case when a player comes up against his former club – it was Christoph Lang who got the goal via a free-kick from just outside the penalty area. The challenges came thick and fast in a hard-fought second half but with no further goals in this tradition-steeped clash – thanks in large part to an outstanding reflex save to deny David Schnegg from Rapid custodian Hedl – both sides ultimately had to settle for a point.

Redakteur: The Other Bundesliga

Fotos: GEPA pictures