ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 30 Reviews

SC Austria Lustenau 2-0 FK Austria Wien

Austria Lustenau kept their incredibly slim hopes of preserving their Bundesliga status alive by claiming only their third victory of the campaign against Austria Vienna, who are now on a three-match winless streak. The Vorarlbergers spurned a great opportunity in the early stages when Namory Cissé missed from a promising position after Christian Früchtl had kept out Ben Bobzien’s effort from point-blank range. But Andreas Heraf’s side soon made amends when Bobzien latched onto a through-ball down the left flank, skilfully cut inside his marker and laid off the ball into the path of Pius Grabher, who scored for the first time this season. In what proved to be the defining phase of the game, Lustenau doubled their lead only four minutes later, Bobzien again proving to be a handful for the Austria Vienna defence before teeing up the unmarked Lukas Fridrikas for a relatively simple finish. Having seemed dead and buried for most of the campaign, Lustenau now find themselves five points behind regional rivals Altach with two games to play – one of which is a Vorarlberg derby on the final day of the season.

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 0-1 RZ Pellets WAC

Altach’s profligacy in front of goal cost them the chance to prematurely ensure their Bundesliga survival as Wolfsberg ran out narrow winners at the Cashpoint Arena. After Paul-Friedich Koller had headed wide from Mohamed Ouedraogo’s cross, the Wolves took the lead at the other end following a corner-kick: Adis Jaši played the set-piece low into the box, where it was met with a thunderous effort by Scott Kennedy. Altach goalie Dejan Stojanovi showed great reflexes to keep the strike out, but Thierno Ballo was the quickest to pounce on the follow-up and slotted home the opener in the 18^th minute. Mike-Steven Bähre had two good chances but was put under decisive pressure by opposition defenders at the last moment, before substitute Dominik Reiter blazed over the bar from a promising position after being set up by Gustavo Santos and Atdhe Nuhiu’s header struck the bar. Lukas Gütlbauer then turned Ouedraogo’s effort from distance over the crossbar as Wolfsberg held on to secure a win and move to within one point of Austria Vienna at the top of the Relegation Group table.

FC Blau Weiß Linz 3-2 WSG Tirol

Blau Weiß Linz claimed a third Bundesliga victory on the bounce – their longest winning streak of the campaign – in a high-scoring game against WSG Tirol. Ronivaldo, who recently extended his contract with the Linz outfit by one more year, opened the scoring on the half-hour mark when he fired home Simon Pirkl’s cross from the left flank. Nik Prelec struck back for WSG Tirol with a header from Bror Blume’s deflected cross in the 40^th minute, only for the home side to re-establish their lead through Manuel Maranda within two minutes: an Adam Stejskal save from Alem Paši’s shot struck the central defender on the shin and landed in the back of the net. Kristijan Dobras then extended BWL’s advantage six minutes after the restart with a shot that took a fortunate deflection off WSG captain Felix Bacher on its way past Stejskal. Denis Tomic gave Thomas Silberberger’s men hope with 13 minutes remaining, volleying home Prelec’s cross from the right, but there were no further goals and Blau Weiß moved three points clear of the Tyroleans, who occupy ninth and 10^th spots in the table respectively.

SK Austria Klagenfurt 0-2 LASK

LASK secured themselves third place in the Bundesliga table for the second successive season courtesy of an away victory in Klagenfurt. The Carinthian hosts came close to taking the lead from their first set-piece of the match when Nicolas Wimmer headed Christopher Wernitznig’s free-kick against the woodwork. The miss swiftly proved costly as LASK opened the scoring through the prolific Marin Ljubii a matter of minutes later. A possession turnover high up the pitch saw Moses Usor play the ball across the penalty area for the Croat to slot home and break the deadlock. Klagenfurt almost came back into the game, only to be denied by the woodwork again when Sinan Karweina’s thunderbolt rebounded off the far post. LASK then doubled their advantage when Ljubii bagged his 11^th goal of the second two minutes after the restart, the forward slotting home Sascha Horvath’s defence-splitting pass. The result leaves Klagenfurt adrift at the bottom of the Championship Group, three points behind fifth-placed Hartberg with two rounds of matches still to play.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 1-1 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

Fresh from retaining their ÖFB-Cup title only four days earlier, Sturm Graz were hoping to keep up the pressure on title rivals Salzburg in this early-afternoon Styrian derby against Hartberg. But the match got off to a tough start for Christian Ilzer’s men. After a flurry of early chances that were kept out by Raphael Sallinger, the Grazers found themselves a player down in the ninth minute when Jon Gorenc-Stankovi was dismissed for a studs-up tackle on Jürgen Heil. Hartberg took advantage of their numerical superiority in the 17^th minute when Maximilian Entrup latched onto a lofted through-ball by Tobias Kainz and slotted home his 12^th goal of the season. But the 10 men of Sturm battled valiantly and restored parity just before the hour mark when Otar Kiteishvili slotted home from inside the box after his initial effort had rebounded off Ibane Bowat. With a four-point lead, Sturm Graz could now become champions of Austria for the first time since 2011 when they visit LASK in the penultimate round at the weekend.

SK Rapid 2-0 FC Red Bull Salzburg

Rapid claimed a 2-0 victory against Salzburg and ended their 19-match winless run against the Red Bulls, which dated back to February 2019. The Green & Whites took the lead six minutes after the restart when Oscar Gloukh committed a foul on Matthias Seidl just inside in the box, prompting the award of a penalty which was confidently tucked away by Marco Grüll. Then came the big talking point of the match: Nikolas Sattlberger dispossessed Karim Konaté with a robust challenge in his own penalty area, prompting penalty appeals from Salzburg players, only for Rapid to go straight down the other end and score courtesy of a low ball across the face of goal by Fally Mayulu for Guido Burgstaller. Referee Christian-Petru Ciochirca reviewed the incident and opted to stick with his original decision and Rapid saw through their 2-0 lead to the end. Salzburg must now win in Hartberg next weekend to have any chance of staying in the title race; otherwise, Austria will definitely have a different champion for the first time since 2013.

Redakteur: The Other Bundesliga

Fotos: GEPA pictures