ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 4 Reviews

FC Flyeralarm Admira 0-1 FC Red Bull Salzburg 

Table-toppers Salzburg made it four wins from four at the start of the season by narrowly defeating a troublesome Admira side at the BSFZ Arena. The Red Bulls have now scored in their opening four games for nine straight seasons, a Bundesliga record. The home team put up a good fight, but a late header from Junior Adamu was enough to give Salzburg the three points, and impressively it was the first headed goal to come from outside the box since September 2015. Mohamed Camara played the long ball forward to get the assist, meaning that two of his three total Bundesliga assists have come in August 2021.

TSV Egger Glas Hartberg 1-1 SV Guntamatic Ried

An evenly-matched encounter in Hartberg saw the points shared on match day four, as defender Mario Sonnleitner celebrated his 400^th Bundesliga appearance. There wasn’t much he could do at the end of the first half as Stefan Nutz sent in a free kick for Constantin Reiner to glance home and put Ried ahead at the break. That’s now four assists already this season for Nutz, and Reiner scored his third Bundesliga goal in total, all of which have come from set-pieces. The hosts came back strongly in the second half, and it wasn’t long before Dario Tadic had set up Sascha Horvath to slot in his third goal of the season, a tally which he hasn’t beaten since bagging four goals back in 2015/16. In the end it remained level, leaving Ried unbeaten in five Bundesliga games against Hartberg.

RZ Pellets WAC 2-2 WSG Tirol

A pulsating game at the Lavanttal Arena left both sides still searching for a first win of the season, but with two goals apiece there were at least plenty of positives for the two coaches. Fabian Koch’s clever strike from the corner of the area got things going for WSG, but Tai Baribo barged through the defence to level up at 1-1 with his first Bundesliga goal. Koch was involved in two goals in one game for the first time in the Bundesliga when he teed up Tobias Anselm to calmly round the keeper and restore WSG’s lead in the second half. Yet after three games without a goal, this time Baribo managed a brace, controlling the ball at the back post before firing in to rescue a draw for WAC in front of their home fans. Wolfsberg stay 12^th, and WSG remain in the “glass half-full or half-empty?” situation of being winless, but also unbeaten, after four games.

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 2-1 SK Rapid Wien

Rapid’s difficult start to the season continued after a late turnaround from Altach gave the home team the victory in Vorarlberg. Taxiarchis Fountas had a goal chalked-off by the VAR for offside, before Marco Grüll put the club from the capital ahead with his first league goal in Rapid colours, converting brilliantly from a long-range free-kick. Daniel Nussbaumer’s three goals for Altach last season all came at home, and he got another one here with less than ten minutes to play, turning well to rifle home an equaliser. There was still drama to come though; when Christoph Knasmüllner was penalised for handball, former Rapid striker Atdhe Nuhiu stepped up to score the injury-time spot-kick and complete a memorable win for the home side which moved them up to fourth in the table.

LASK 1-3 SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz

LASK fell to a first defeat of the season amid a flurry of late activity in Pasching. The hosts had the better of the chances in the first hour, but it was Kelvin Yeboah who eventually chipped in to give Sturm the lead. That’s now three goals this season for Yeboah, and his last six in total have all come after the interval. The Grazers switched to counter play late on in the game, and were rewarded with Manprit Sarkaria tapping-in a first goal for his new club to double the lead. LASK kept fighting though, and Peter Michorl curled in his first goal from outside the box since November 2019 as he restored hope immediately for the home team. With seconds ticking away Sturm struck on the counter again; it was Sarkaria on the score sheet once more, but this time it was a solo effort to seal a statement win.

FK Austria Wien 1-1 SK Austria Klagenfurt

An action-packed game at the Generali Arena ended all-square as two second half goals cancelled each other out. Austria Wien were applying pressure but couldn’t find the net, and instead Thorsten Mahrer headed in Florian Rieder’s corner kick to give Klagenfurt the lead just before the hour mark. It was Mahrer’s first goal in the Bundesliga since March 2020, when he also scored in Vienna (against Rapid) for his former club SV Mattersburg. Johannes Handl also headed home from a set-piece to equalise for the Violets after 71 minutes; it was his fourth Bundesliga goal in total, three of which have come in the same manner. Despite Dominik Fitz leading the shot count with four, there was no way through for either side in the battle of the Austrias, meaning the hosts are still without a league win this season.