ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 14 Review

FC Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

League leaders Salzburg edged past basement side Hartberg, as the visitors put in a performance to be proud of at the Red Bull Arena before leaving empty handed.

Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle made seven changes to the side which lost to Chelsea in midweek, with another huge UEFA Champions League test awaiting in Milan. Dijon Kameri racked up a game-high four shots, and one of his early efforts was close to giving the hosts a first-half lead, but it would take until the second half for Salzburg to hit the front. Three minutes after the break, a deflected ball in the box sat up nicely for Noah Okafor, who smartly stroked home a volley for his sixth goal of the season, three of which have now come from the bench. Only Rapid’s Bernhard Zimmermann has scored more times as a substitute so far this term.

Hartberg’s players were sticking to their tasks and continued to challenge Salzburg; Jürgen Heil also managed to accrue four shots, one of which needed a last-ditch block from a defender. Seth Paintsil curled in what he thought was a fine leveller for Hartberg, but the flag was up for offside, and the goal did not stand. The final phase belonged to the hosts again though, as young players like Kamil Piatkowski, Lawrence Agyekum and Roko Simic made the most of their chances in the starting XI, and helped Salzburg to see out a narrow win.

SK Austria Klagenfurt 2-3 WSG Tirol

A brace from Klagenfurt forward Markus Pink wiped out a WSG two-goal lead, before a last-minute goal gave the guests the win in a heated finale at the 28 Black Arena.

WSG started on the front foot on Saturday, as Sandi Ogrinec made his third goal contribution in as many games, teeing up a high cross for Thomas Sabitzer to head home inside two minutes. The opening scorer would have another good chance, but his next header was too close to the keeper, before WSG had a goal ruled out on a close offside call. They would eventually get their second though, as Lukas Sulzbacher burst clear on the counter and chipped a cross over for Alexander Ranacher to nod in his first goal of the season.

Aerial threats remained the big danger on the day, as a Sinan Karweina ball in from the right invited Markus Pink to reduce the deficit with a diving header just before half-time, and once WSG had seen another goal ruled out for offside, Pink headed in an equaliser from Christopher Wernitznig’s dead-ball delivery, moving the striker into double figures for the season. With 20 minutes still to play, the closing stages were set up nicely, and although both teams were going all out for the three points it was WSG Tirol who had the last laugh; Zan Rogelj cushioned a volley back across the box calmly, where Valentino Müller was waiting to slot home a 90th minute winner. The late goal took WSG above their hosts and into fourth place, both teams are on 20 points, having won six games and drawn twice this season.

SC Austria Lustenau 3-3 SK Rapid Vienna

Lustenau and Rapid shared the spoils in a roller coaster of a game on Saturday, as a remarkable final few minutes saw three goals scored in stoppage time.

The visitors were coming into this fixture having beaten Hartberg 5-1 in a midweek game-in-hand, and they picked up where they left off, creating several chances in the opening half-hour. However, Lustenau were the team to hit the front when Stefano Surdanovic powered a bullet header in from a contentious Torben Rhein corner to get his third goal of the season. Rapid equalised just before the hour mark; some neat combination play ended up with Guido Burgstaller poking in an Ante Bajic square ball for 1-1. Markus Mader brought on Bryan Teixeira for the home team, and he turned the game in their favour, sweeping home emphatically from inside the area just seven minutes later to put Lustenau back in front, but the game was far from over.

After Rapid had a goal ruled out for Burgstaller blocking the keeper’s vision whilst in an offside position, the minutes looked to be ticking away, but Burgstaller himself would eventually get another goal. He glanced in a header from Nicolas Kühn’s deep cross to make it 2-2 after 92 minutes, and move onto nine goals for the season, something which he only bettered in 2013/14 (11 goals). Lustenau weren’t settling for the draw though, and when they were awarded a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Teixeira’s calm spot kick surely looked to have won them the game. Alas, the match still had one final twist, and when the guests pumped a long throw into the box, the league’s most effective substitute Berhard Zimmermann received a flick-on from roaming Rapid keeper Niklas Hedl, and took advantage of a fluffed clearance to bundle the ball over the line, leaving the scores at 3-3 after 100 minutes of football. 10th placed Lustenau remain winless since August but they’ve now drawn their last two, and Rapid drew their first game since September, slipping to seventh place in the process.

LASK 4-1 RZ Pellets WAC

A 12-minute hat-trick from LASK’s Robert Zulj gave the hosts an unnassailable first-half lead, and left Wolfsberg with four league defeats on the bounce.

Zulj delighted the home fans at the Raiffeisen Arena on Sunday with a stunning free kick to put LASK ahead on 11 minutes, but he was only just getting started. Six minutes later he ghosted into the area to tap-in a Sascha Horvath pass from close range, and it took just six more minutes for him to lash home after Peter Michorl’s training ground free kick touch. That completed Zulj’s first Bundesliga hat-trick in 116 appearances, and scoring three in the first 23 minutes of the game meant it was the league’s third-fastest triple, behind only Zoltan Kereki (Wacker Innsbruck, 1985, 14 mins) and Patson Daka (Red Bull Salzburg, 2021, 11 mins).

Keito Nakamura showed some fast footwork in the penalty area to skip away from defenders and fire home a fourth in the second half - his eighth goal of the campaign - before Maurice Malone’s third strike of the season reduced the deficit to 4-1 for a beleaguered WAC. LASK remain comfortable in third place in the table, six points above fourth, whereas WAC are back down in the bottom half, following up a run of three successive victories with no more points since October 1st, a run which has dropped the Carinthian side down to eighth place.

FK Austria Vienna 2-1 CASHPOINT SCR Altach

A late penalty from Dominik Fitz completed Austria Vienna’s comeback as they defeated in-form Altach at the Generali Arena.

The Violets spurned a whole host of chances in the first half, as Jan Zwischenbrugger was forced into a goal line clearance, and both Fitz and Nikola Dovedan put efforts off-target from decent positions. Three minutes before the break, Altach punished Austria’s profligacy with a beauty of a free kick from Forson Amankwah which flew into the top corner despite a slip as he struck the ball. It was a memorable first goal of the season for the 19-year-old Ghanaian, to go with the four assists that he’s provided so far.

Austria came roaring back in the second half though, and just two minutes after the restart Fitz slammed the ball in from six-yards following a cut-back from Manuel Polster. It was Polster’s second goal contribution in two games, and one of a massive 14 shots that Dominik Fitz was involved in on the day (7 shots taken, 7 created), just one behind Jonatan Soriano’s Bundesliga record of 15. The home side amassed 23 shots in total, with an eventual xG of nearly 3.5, but they needed Felix Strauss’ unnecessary handball to give them a chance to win the game from the spot after 93 minutes. Fitz duly obliged, netting the winner to move Austria Vienna up into sixth place, and leave Altach in 9th, ending their run of two wins in a row.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 2-1 SV Guntamatic Ried

Jakob Janstcher maintained his perfect record from the penalty spot to put Sturm Graz on their way to a win over a resilient Ried side in Sunday’s late game.

After Thursday night’s stunning win in the UEFA Europa League, Graz got back to their Bundesliga business at the Merkur Arena, with experienced forward Jantscher back in the starting line-up for the first time since his injury lay-off. Sturm had a chance to open the scoring from the spot after David Ungar handled a cross from the byline, and with 22 minutes on the clock, the man who made more goal contributions than any other player last season converted the penalty to get his first goal of this campaign and give the hosts the lead. Since rejoining Sturm in 2018, Jantscher has scored each of his six Bundesliga spot kicks.

Ried’s goalkeeper Samuel Sahin-Radlinger had to make a number of saves to keep his team close, with one particularly outstanding full-stretch stop denying Alexander Prass from a long range effort, and his hard work was rewarded when Stefan Nutz’s strike took a deflection of Seifeddin Chabbi and bounced into the Sturm goal to make it 1-1 in the second half. However, another deflection off Chabbi at the other end would see the ball fall kindly for Otar Kiteishvili, who tucked it away to restore Sturm’s lead with his second goal of the season. Added to his late winner in midweek against Feyenoord, that goal capped a great run of form for the Georgian who has been injured for large parts of the last two seasons - he managed just one league goal in the whole of last term. Sturm saw out the 2-1 win despite Ried’s late pressure, and the Grazers keep up the chase two points behind Salzburg at the top. Ried’s recent mini-revival was halted with the defeat, they stay in 11th, two points off the bottom.