ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 15 Review

RZ Pellets WAC 1-2 FC Red Bull Salzburg

Salzburg withstood a spirited second half revival from their hosts Wolfsberg, as they came away with a narrow win to extend their lead at the top.

It took Salzburg just two minutes to demonstrate their superiority against a WAC side struggling for form, as Bernardo forced a close range save following a corner, and then hit the bar with his effort on the rebound. The guests retained the upper hand, and a goal of technical quality put them in front on 17 minutes: Luka Sucic flicked a long pass from right to left with his laces, before Noah Okafor controlled perfectly and slammed the ball high into the net at the near post for his seventh goal of the season. Benjamin Sesko thought he’d added a second only to be pulled back for offside, but his next attempt came back off the post and found Junior Adamu who converted for 2-0. That was a seventh of the season for Adamu, who matches up with last season’s total after just 15 games. He’s also proven to be something of a specialist on the road, with all seven goals coming away from home.

WAC keeper Hendrik Bonmann kept the scoreboard at 2-0, before Wolfsberg hit back in the latter stages. With just under 15 minutes to play, a perfectly executed counter finished with Thorsten Röcher’s cultured chip over the defence, and Maurice Malone lashing in a left-footed goal to reduce the deficit. He’s now scored four for the season, and two in consecutive games. Salzburg had to survive a handball appeal in the area against defender Bernardo, but once VAR overturned the WAC penalty kick, their biggest chance was gone, and they couldn’t find an equaliser. Salzburg moved four points clear at the top of the table, as WAC ultimately slipped to a fifth defeat in a row.

SV Guntamatic Ried 2-2 SK Austria Klagenfurt

Ried and Klagenfurt played out an entertaining draw at the Josko Arena, with both sides probably feeling that they should have taken all three points.

A quiet opening half hour was brought to life by the home side’s opener, as a long pass out to the left was met on the volley by Philipp Pomer, who teed up Seifeddin Chabbi in the middle to slot home and cap off a fantastic move. Ried went close again with a similar break but this time the ball hit the woodwork, and at the other end, Samuel Sahin-Radlinger had to produce a fingertip save to keep out a header from the league’s top scorer Markus Pink.

In the second period, Pink would eventually get his goal after he was picked out by an inch-perfect Sinan Karweina pass. Karweina and Pink are the league’s dynamic duo right now, as that was the former’s fifth assist of the season, all of which led to goals for the latter! Both teams kept up the tempo, but it was the guests who turned the game around on 76 minutes; Nicolas Wimmer flicked-on a Florian Rieder corner kick, and who else should be there to tap it in at close range, but Markus Pink once more. The brace takes him to 12 goals this term, matching his total from last year. He wasn’t the only player to score twice on the day though; after Wimmer handled in the area, Chabbi buried a late penalty to level up at 2-2 for Ried, and ensure that the points were shared. The hosts stay in 11th place, with Klagenfurt one of three teams on 21 points, they sit in the middle of the trio, in fifth.

TSV Egger Glas Hartberg 1-1 SC Austria Lustenau

Hartberg and Lustenau went head to head with both teams in desperate need of a win, but on a day when two players would become new Bundesliga goal scorers, the sides couldn’t be separated.

In a nervy battle between the teams in 12th and 10th respectively, Torben Rhein’s early cross kept Hartberg keeper Rene Swete on his toes after a deflection sent it hurtling towards the goal. Lustenau would eventually be the side to open the scoring though, as just before the half-hour mark, Hakim Guenouche was afforded too much time on the edge of the area, and he arrowed in a superb strike to put the guests in front with his first league goal.

Trailing at the break, Hartberg boss Klaus Schmidt sent on Ruben Providence, and with just under an hour played he got his reward. Eylon Almog’s effort from the edge of the box fell nicely for Providence in a central position, and he picked his spot well to fire in the equaliser. It was a Bundesliga premiere for both scorer and assist-provider, and the goals for Guenouche and Providence made it the first ever Bundesliga game in which two French players have found the net. On his 100th Bundesliga appearance, Jürgen Heil could only hit the side-netting for Hartberg, and after a late red card for Lustenau’s Darijo Grujcic, the home side were well on top, but once Dario Tadic’s volley was blocked the game was destined to end all-square. Hartberg at least snapped a four game losing run, whereas Lustenau made it three successive draws, but they are still winless since August.

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 1-1 SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz

Altach and Sturm traded early goals in Vorarlberg, as the second-placed visitors lost ground to the league leaders.

An action-packed first half opened with Otar Kiteishvili putting away an 11th minute spot kick for Sturm. The Georgian extended his fine run of form with a third goal of the season, taking him joint-top of the Grazers’ scorer list; he’s now scored two more than he managed in an injury-affected season last year. Just four minutes later, Atdhe Nuhiu headed in a Jan Jurcec cross for the Altach equaliser. Nuhiu’s eighth goal of the campaign was his sixth headed goal, meaning he’s not far off the Bundesliga record of eight in a season, with over half of the season still to be played. David Schnegg hit the woodwork and Gregory Wüthrich went close with a header for the guests, but the game remained 1-1 at the break.

Home keeper Tino Casali denied Kiteishvili with a series of saves in the second half, but the major moment came after 75 minutes. Albian Ajeti scored what looked like a crucial goal for Sturm, but after VAR check the goal was chalked off for a contentious foul in the build-up. After that, Alexis Tibidi almost won the game on the break for the hosts, but it finished with just one goal each. Altach move up to ninth with the point, Sturm remain second, but are now four points behind Salzburg.

WSG Tirol 0-0 FK Austria Vienna

WSG and Austria Vienna played out a goalless draw at the Tivoli Stadium, as the hosts’ run of three successive wins came to an end.

Lukas Sulzbacher tested the Austria keeper in the early stages, before Dominik Fitz fired a longshot just wide at the other end, but it was the home side who spurned two more chances to take a first-half lead. Sulzbacher chose to attempt a spectacular half volley when he could have played in one of several teammates to his left, and Sandi Ogrinec could only blaze over the bar after some nice work from Nik Prelec on the right flank had set him up with a glorious chance seven yards out. Austria’s Fitz teed up a game-high seven shots for his teammates, and one of them was a decent opportunity from a central position which Matthias Braunöder couldn’t quite take advantage of, but Thomas Silberberger’s home team pushed hard to extend their excellent winning run after the interval.

Kofi Schulz put a close range header too near to Austria keeper Christian Früchtl with just under 20 minutes to play, Zan Rogelj had an effort blocked at the near post, and in the final minute of normal time Julius Ertlthaler had his shot smothered by the away goalkeeper, who preserved a point for his team in the end. WSG slip to sixth place, level on points with the two teams above them, and just one point ahead of Austria Vienna in seventh.

SK Rapid Vienna 1-0 LASK

Thirty shots were shared evenly between Rapid and LASK in the Bundesliga’s Sunday evening fixture, but after dominating the first half it was the hosts who came out narrowly on top, as LASK boss Dietmar Kühbauer returned to face his former employer.

The opening period belonged to the home team as the visitors didn’t register a single shot on target before the break. Aleksa Pejic saw his effort blocked by teammate Guido Burgstaller in the LASK penalty area, but the latter would get on the score sheet with five minutes to go until half-time, as the best move of the game saw him step over the ball and receive a pass into his run from Ferdy Druijf, before clipping his finish past the visiting shot-stopper. That was Burgstaller’s 10th goal of the campaign; only once has he beaten that tally, scoring 11 times in the 2013/14 season. Druijf also moved to the joint-top of Rapid’s assist chart, with his fourth of the season.

Marco Grüll struck a shot just wide early in the second half, before LASK fought their way back into the game. A bouncing and swerving effort from Peter Michorl was dealt with by Rapid keeper Niklas Hedl, but the guests should have been level after 63 minutes, as Keito Nakamura played in dangerman Marin Ljubicic who uncharacteristically fired wide from inside the area. Robert Zulj then saw a shot and a header miss the target for a resurgent LASK, but Rapid recovered to finish strongly with Grüll hitting the bar, and Burgstaller having a goal ruled out for offside before they edged over the line with a one-goal victory. Rapid move up into fourth place with the win, five points and one spot behind LASK.