ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 19 Reviews

FK Austria Wien 2-0 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

Goals from Aleksander Jukic and Manfred Fischer secured FK Austria Wien an all-important home victory in their chase of the Championship Group spots. The Violets sit two points clear in fifth with only two games remaining in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga’s regular season. Jukic’s early thunderbolt, his fifth goal of the season, gave Austria the perfect early tonic to begin an impressive attacking display. Fischer followed in the second half by firing in from the edge of the box in the 55^th minute – he contributed nine chances to Austria’s attacking prowess in the match, the record for any Violet player this season. For TSV Egger Glas Hartberg, their dream of a top six berth looks almost certain to be at an end with five points to make up in the two final games.

FC Flyeralarm Admira 0-3 LASK

LASK produced their biggest away victory of the season to keep up their fading hopes of an unlikely top six spot. Thomas Goiginger was sensational as the 28-year-old scored twice and assisted the other in a Man of the Match performance – only the second time he’s ever had three goal involvements in a single ADMIRAL Bundesliga match. The opener came in the 23^rd minute as Goiginger steered the ball into the back of the net from an acute angle and assisted only seven minutes later with a deft lob over the defence for Sascha Horvath to finish with ease. It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Black and Whites with new Admira signing Jan Vodhánl striking the crossbar from a free kick. With 25 minutes to go, Goiginger put the contest out of reach with a superb solo goal inside the area to add a third for Andi Wieland’s men.

SV Guntamatic Ried 3-2 WSG Tirol

Malian striker Nene Dorgeles scored a brace within the first 10 minutes to lead SV Guntamatic Ried to victory, despite a late, dramatic surge from WSG Tirol. The loanee from Red Bull Salzburg became the youngest Ried player to score an ADMIRAL Bundesliga double at 19 years and 58 days old. Only four minutes into the game he beat the offside trap to tuck away the opener, before capping off a quick counter with an emphatic finish after nine minutes. It was three just before half-time with Stefan Nutz delivering a sumptuous ball into the path of Ante Bajic who fired home – Bajic has scored six ADMIRAL Bundesliga goals this campaign, five of them assisted by Nutz. The Tiroleans tried to find a way back in the game with Alexander Ranacher and Giacomo Vrioni both striking the post. As the game ticked into stoppage time Justin Forst looped a header into the back post for 3-1, followed by Vrioni tapping in from close range for a second. Almost unbelievably, WSG Tirol almost came all the way back only for Vrioni to be denied by a big Samuel ahin-Radlinger block from an in-direct free-kick.

FC Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 RZ Pellets WAC

Just days after their UEFA Champions League drama against Bayern Munich, FC Red Bull Salzburg were pushed to their limit by RZ Pellets WAC, needing two stoppage time goals to pick up the win. The two clubs, who were both confirmed in the Championship Group before the game, traded opportunities with Salzburg producing 23 shots to WAC’s nine during the game. With time almost running out, the champions found the breakthrough in the third minute of stoppage time via Luka Sucic’s first ADMIRAL Bundesliga goal of the season. Then, with WAC pushing forward for an equaliser, Salzburg broke into space and Brenden Aaronson tapped in at the back post for a second. A spirited display by the Wolfsbergers who played their youngest starting eleven in ADMIRAL Bundesliga history, but they’ll have three more chances against the champions before the end of the season; two in the league and the UNIQA ÖFB Cup semi-final.

SK Austria Klagenfurt 2-0 CASHPOINT SCR Altach

SK Austria Klagenfurt took a giant leap to qualification for the Championship Group with a home victory against bottom club CASHPOINT SCR Altach. Alex Timossi Andersson set Peter Pacult’s men away after four minutes capitalising on a rebound after Tino Casali parried the ball away, a fourth goal of the season for the young Swede. Darijo Pecirep made it two on the half-hour mark with a glancing touch from Florian Jaritz’s header, it was Pericep’s first-ever ADMIRAL Bundesliga goal a remarkable 2,774 days after his league debut. The best opportunity for the visitors saw Bakary Nimaga hit the woodwork and Dominik Reiter agonisingly missing the rebound despite the goal gaping in front of him. The Carinthians now have a four=point gap to seventh place with two games remaining, closing in on a remarkable achievement on their return to the Austrian top flight.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 2-2 SK Rapid Wien

Two of Austrian football’s grandest names battled to a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Merkur Arena. The hosts opened the scoring after six minutes via Rasmus Höjlund, who became the first SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz player to score three goals in his first two games in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. Emanuel Aiwu hit back for SK Rapid Wien with a storming header in the 35^th minute, his third goal of the season. With only 20 minutes remaining in a pulsating match, Martin Moormann was adjudged to have brought down Gregory Wüthrich in the area and Jakob Jantscher stepped up to smash home the spot kick to take his scoring record into double figures for the season. With seven minutes remaining, Kevin Wimmer brilliantly turned in the box and lashed in from close range for a late equaliser. That wasn’t the end of the drama, with a goal-line melee almost seeing Rapid grab a winner but David Affengruber cleared off the line at the last possible moment.