ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 11 Review

LASK 0-3 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

After three defeats on the bounce, Hartberg shocked high-flying LASK with a big away win.

Sascha Horvath and Marin Ljubicic both spurned huge chances for the hosts, before Thomas Goiginger rattled a powerful shot off the woodwork, and the game was goalless at half-time when on another day LASK might have led by two or three. They would be made to pay for their profligacy, as Rene Kriwak took advantage of a mistake in LASK’s build up play to slot in his second Bundesliga goal in successive games ten minutes after the restart. The guests doubled the lead soon after when Dario Tadic pounced on a rebound to score goal number 47 for his club, and they weren’t done yet, as there was still time for Matija Horvat to tap in Jürgen Heil’s low cross and truly seal the win. LASK were left to rue their earlier misses, and they stay third in the table whilst losing ground on those above. Hartberg finish the weekend in tenth place after securing a first win since August.

SK Austria Klagenfurt 2-1 SC Austria Lustenau

Austria Klagenfurt backed up their three away wins from the last four games with a morale-boosting home win over promoted Lustenau following a brace from Kosmas Gkezos.

Torben Rhein crashed a free kick off the underside of the bar for the guests early on, but he was unlucky to see it bounce away to safety, and his team would soon fall behind. For the third game in a row, Klagenfurt’s Andy Irving was involved in a goal, when his corner was headed home by an unmarked Gkezos after a quarter of an hour. It would take him until the second half to score his second, and once again he rose highest to place a lovely header into the top corner from a Christopher Wernitznig set piece. After 25 Bundesliga games without a goal, Gkezos suddenly had two, and left his team with a comfortable lead. Anthony Schmid reduced the deficit from close range with his first goal since the opening day following some good work from Yadaly Diaby on the left, but that came in the 87th minute, and proved too little too late. Eighth-placed Lustenau are now without a victory in six Bundesliga games, but Klagenfurt’s fifth win of the season helped them cement their fourth place.

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 2-3 FC Red Bull Salzburg

Heavy rain in Vorarlberg made for difficult playing conditions on Saturday, but nonetheless Altach and Salzburg served up a five-goal thriller, with the reigning champions coming out on top.

Altach thought they had opened the scoring through Atdhe Nuhiu just inside 20 minutes, but Kamil Piatkowski’s clearance was adjudged to have stopped the ball from fully crossing the line, or at least it wasn’t clear enough for the goal to be awarded. Just after the break Nuhiu was dangerous again, forcing a great save with a header on target, and yet it was Salzburg who opened the scoring seven minutes into the second half, as Maximilian Wöber found space to fire in from inside the penalty area, notching his sixth career Bundesliga goal, and his first from open play. Just five minutes later Altach were on level terms though, Alexis Tibidi running through and converting calmly from the left for his fourth goal of the season, and his third in successive games. Less than 120 seconds after that, Salzburg were in front once again when Sekou Koita got his first goal of the campaign, volleying home a Junior Adamu flick-on, and Adamu himself would extend the lead after 72 minutes, squeezing the ball past the home keeper for 3-1. The hosts were not about to give up on this one, and Forson Amankwah delivered a second assist of the game, this time crossing for Atdhe Nuhiu, who nodded in a remarkable fifth header of the season! Ultimately Salzburg held on to stay two-points clear at the top of the table, with Altach in eleventh place after a battling defeat.

RZ Pellets WAC 1-2 SC Guntamatic Ried

Ried ripped up the form book, and snapped an eight game winless streak in the process, by defeating WAC in Wolfsberg on Sunday.

Leo Mikic gambled on a Julian Wiessmeier cross, and got his reward as he tapped in a seventh career Bundesliga goal at the back post to put struggling Ried ahead after 17 minutes. Christoph Monschein saw his low shot come back off the post - the eighth time this year Ried have been denied by the woodwork - but nevertheless the guests doubled their lead just after the half-hour mark, as Stefan Nutz got his second assist of the season, seeing his corner met by Tin Plavotic, who headed home a second goal of the campaign. After the break, Ried remained in the driving seat against a strangely subdued WAC, but they couldn’t find a way past Hendrik Bonmann in the Wolfsberg goal for a third time. The hosts would get a consolation goal in stoppage time, and it came in bizarre circumstances as Matthias Gragger went for a backpass from well over 50 yards away, only to see the ball fly off his boot and over the stranded Ried keeper for a spectacular own goal. Curiously, Gragger also scored an own goal in February 2022 against Wolfsberg, and this goal was a milestone, marking the 200th goal of this Bundesliga season overall. WAC suddenly sniffed the chance of a draw, but the away side deservedly held on for just their second win of the season. Ried stay bottom but draw level on points with Altach, whereas Wolfsberger AC slip to sixth after the end of their three match winning run.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 2-1 WSG Tirol

Sturm kept up the pressure at the top of the table, battling through to a narrow win over WSG Tirol in Graz on Sunday after a flurry of first-half goals.

The returning Emanuel Emegha had the first chance for the hosts, but he couldn’t generate enough power on his shot, and it was left to defender Jon Gorenc-Stankovic to open the scoring after 17 minutes, as he headed in Alexandar Borkovic’s nodded pass. Seven of Gorenc-Stankovic’s eight career Bundesliga goals have come in home games. An emphatic Kofi Schulz header restored parity for WSG three minutes later, he’s now scored six Bundesliga goals, all of which have come away from home! Another headed goal fell in the first half, and it went to Sturm, as Manprit Sarkaria’s corner was glanced in across the goal by David Schnegg with 38 minutes on the clock. Corners remained dangerous at both ends, but both keepers had to be alert to save from one-on-one breaks in the second half, and WSG even had a goal chalked off following a handball in the build-up, so the score remained 2-1 to Sturm. The hosts stay two points behind Salzburg near the top of the table, and WSG remain in ninth place.

SK Rapid Vienna 1-2 FK Austria Vienna

Austria Vienna came away from the 337th Vienna Derby as the victors, marking the first win for either team in this fixture since September 2019, and ending a run of seven successive derby draws.

In front of a full house in Hütteldorf, Muharem Huskovic gave the guests the perfect start when he picked his spot and dinked a shot over the keeper and in at the far post, putting Austria in front inside five minutes with his first goal of the season. Andreas Gruber’s pass set up that early advantage, as the former LASK man recorded his third assist of the campaign. When Rapid struggled to clear an Austria counter attack, Dominik Fitz was felled in the box, and he duly stepped up to convert the penalty and give the Violets a 2-0 lead after only 17 minutes. The well-taken spot kick was his third goal of the season, taking him past his 2021/22 tally of two goals already. Rapid Vienna improved after the break, but with chances at a premium, it took until the start of stoppage time for Ante Bajic to halve the lead, and it proved to be too late to mount a comeback and rescue a point for the hosts. Austria Vienna have now scored two or more goals in their last five away games, something they haven’t managed since 1989, and this time the two goals were enough to earn them their first win in the Vienna Derby since December 2018. Austria leapfrogged their rivals and move up to fifth in the table, Rapid sit in seventh place, albeit with a game in hand.