RZ Pellets WAC 1-2 FC Red Bull Salzburg
Salzburg coach Gerhard Struber continued his perfect start since his summer appointment in Wals-Siezenheim as the Red Bulls came from behind to beat Wolfsberg. The Wolves took the lead right before the break when Scott Kennedy’s long throw into the box was flicked on by Dominik Baumgartner for Mohamed Bamba to score his first-ever Bundesliga goal, which he celebrated in acrobatic style. But Salzburg made a couple of changes at the break and restored parity with a set-piece of their own when Samson Baidoo won the aerial battle in the penalty area and headed home a corner to make it 1-1. With the Red Bulls now pushing for a winner, Sekou Koita latched onto Fernando’s through-pass between two Wolfsberg defenders and slotted the ball inside the near post. The comeback victory kept Salzburg’s noses narrowly in front of Sturm Graz at the summit, while Wolfsberg’s first defeat of the campaign saw them drop to seventh.
SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 4-1 FC Blau Weiß Linz
Even without Hong Kong-bound club legend Jakob Jantscher, who was watching in the crowd, Sturm Graz needed only 38 seconds to find the back of the net against struggling promoted outfit Blau Weiß Linz. Dane William Bøving teed up Polish forward Szymon Wlodarczyk before making it 2-0 via a deflection off Stefan Haudum in the seventh minute. Blau Weiß Linz reduced the deficit on the 54-minute mark when Graz native Julian Gölles’ strike hit the foot of the post and was turned into his own net by David Affengruber. But Sturm responded swiftly, with Bøving and Wlodarczyk teaming up once again to make it 3-1 from a corner-kick, before Manprit Sarkaria stepped up and converted from the penalty spot to complete the 4-1 thrashing. Sturm, who have only dropped points this season at home to Austria Klagenfurt, remain hot on Salzburg’s heels with the gap at only two points. The Linzers, meanwhile, stay rooted to the foot of the table without a win in the top flight this season.
SC Austria Lustenau 0-3 CASHPOINT SCR Altach
Having failed to win a single one of their four derby meetings last term, Altach made amends in style and secured the bragging rights in Vorarlberg with a comfortable win away to their neighbours. The game got off to a nightmare start for Lustenau when goalie Domenik Schierl turned a corner-kick into his own net with only 61 seconds on the clock. Schierl was again in the thick of the action for the second goal in the 25th minute, turning Lukas Gugganig’s free-kick against the upright only for Christian Gebauer to tap the loose ball into the net on the follow-up. Yadaly Diaby squandered a great chance to pull one back before the break and was made to pay for his profligacy when Paul-Friedich Koller slotted home a cross from Gustavo Santos in the 57th minute of the match. Altach, relegation battlers in recent seasons, now sit in the top half of the table, while winless Austria Lustenau are down in 10th place.
SK Rapid Wien 1-1 WSG Tirol
Fresh from their impressive victory over UEFA Conference League finalists Fiorentina on Thursday evening, Rapid started the game on the front foot but were dealt a blow when Luca Kronberger fired home a stunning strike from 33 metres out to open the scoring for WSG Tirol. The equaliser eventually came when Matthias Seidl teed himself up from Ante Bajic’s cutback and then struck a bouncing volley into the bottom corner of the net. The Green & Whites hit the woodwork twice in the second period – Querfeld headed against the crossbar from a corner and Ante Bajic struck the foot of the post – but they could not find a way through and their eight-match winning run against the Tyroleans came to an end. Rapid now occupy fourth place in the Bundesliga table with eight points on the board, while WSG Tirol picked up only their second point of the campaign and sit in 11th spot.
LASK 2-0 FK Austria Wien
LASK head coach Thomas Sageder stuck with the same starting line-up that had beaten Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa League play-off first leg three days earlier. And it was Robert Zulj, the scorer of both goals in that 2-1 victory over the team from Bosnia & Herzegovina, who opened the scoring against Austria Vienna when he darted towards the near post and met Florian Flecker’s powerful cross with a stooping header shortly after the half-hour mark. Referee Walter Altmann waved away LASK’s claims for a second-half penalty kick following a collision between Lucas Galvao and Ibrahim Mustapha, but the Linzers wrapped up the win a matter of minutes later when Austria Vienna keeper Christian Früchtl spilled Mustapha’s cross at the feet of Zulj, who tapped home to take his goal tally for the week to four. LASK are now fifth with eight points, while Austria Vienna are ninth on four points.
TSV Egger Glas Hartberg 0-3 SK Austria Klagenfurt
Austria Klagenfurt marked coach Peter Pacult’s 250th Bundesliga match as a coach by extending their unbeaten start to the season and rising up to third place in the table courtesy of a commanding victory in Hartberg. The home team largely set the tone and had the lion’s share of possession in the opening half, but it was the Carinthian outfit that got the breakthrough when Andy Irving struck Kosmas Gezos’ pass into the bottom corner of the net with one minute to go until the interval. Sinan Karweina doubled the advantage around the hour mark when he cut inside from the left flank and fired inside the near post, before slotting home Florian Jaritz’s lovely assist with the outside of his boot to round off the scoring in the closing stages. It was the 24-year-old German forward’s fourth goal of the season, taking him level with Salzburg’s Karim Konaté and Sturm’s Szymon Wlodarczyk at the top of the Bundesliga goalscoring charts.
Redakteur: The Other Bundesliga
Fotos: GEPA pictures