ADMIRAL Bundesliga Matchday 21 Reviews

CASHPOINT SCR Altach 0-2 FC Flyeralarm Admira

Admira Wacker beat Altach in a relegation six-pointer to claim their first Bundesliga away win since early September. Roman Kerschbaum opened the scoring for the Lower Austrians by slotting home a penalty rebound, but then Altach came back into the game and twice went close through Atdhe Nuhiu, who first had a goal disallowed and then had a spot-kick saved by Andreas Leitner. Marlon Mustapha punished that profligacy by doubling Admira’s advantage courtesy of a mazy dribbling run in the second half, before Christoph Monschein came agonisingly close to ending Altach’s long wait for a league goal with a strike from a tight angle that rebounded off the post. For Andreas Herzog’s charges, this victory was their first since beating Altach in the reverse fixture in October and took them seven points clear of their relegation rivals. The Vorarlbergers, meanwhile, remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table and are favourites to go down.  

SK Austria Klagenfurt 1-1 SV Guntamatic Ried 

The race for a place in the Championship Round will go to the final round of the regular season for Austria Klagenfurt and Ried, who drew 1-1 on the penultimate matchday before the split, although the Carinthians remain the likelier to finish in the top six. It was they who took the lead in this match too, with Bosnian central defender Ivan Saravanja rifling home through a crowd of six or seven opposition players in the box to score his first goal in the Austrian Bundesliga. But Ried continued to dictate the pace and were perhaps unlucky to have a penalty appeal rejected following a robust challenge on Julian Wießmeier. They made up for it shortly after the break, however, scoring an equaliser through Stefan Nutz to keep their top half hopes alive. Austria Klagenfurt will head into the final day of the regular season in fourth place with 30 points, while Ried are three places and two points behind. Both have tricky games to navigate though: the Carinthians are away to Rapid Vienna, while the Upper Austrians play host to Sturm Graz.

FK Austria Wien 1-0 RZ Pellets WAC 

Goalkeeper Patrick Pentz was the difference-maker as Austria Vienna kept up with their rivals in the hunt for a Championship Round berth and inflicted a second consecutive Bundesliga defeat on previously high-flying Wolfsberg. Both Noah Ohio and Manfred Fischer went close for the Violets in the opening half, before an Alexander Grünwald thunderbolt 12 minutes after the restart eventually broke the deadlock. But as the match edged towards the closing stages, Lukas Mühl was adjudged to have handled in the box and Wolfsberg were awarded a penalty. Patrick Pentz saved Michi Liendl’s spot-kick but the referee ordered a retake, deeming the shot-stopper had moved off his line too early. No problem for Pentz though, who again dove in the same direction to deny the usually dependable Liendl. The most important moment of the match came in the final minutes, however, when Wolfsberg’s Luka Lochoshvili made a brave and decisive intervention to save Georg Teigl, who had collapsed on the ground. Austria now sit in fifth place on 30 points, while third-placed Wolfsberg are four points ahead and already sure of their spot in the top half.

WSG Tirol 0-2 SK Rapid Wien

Rapid Vienna bounced back from their disappointing Europa Conference League elimination against Vitesse with an away win against WSG Tirol that leaves them in the top half – only by virtue of their head-to-head record against Ried – going into the final day of the regular season. Marco Grüll opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick in the seventh minute, before Kelvin Arase doubled the advantage with his 10^th Bundesliga goal a quarter of an hour later as the Green & Whites surged into an early lead. The deficit should have arguably been halved on the stroke of half-time by Giocomo Vrioni, who also fired a low effort wide early in the second half. But the capital club ultimately saw out the victory and will head into Matchday 22 level on points with but behind cross-city rivals Austria Vienna; the two have never both finished in the top half of the table since the new league format was introduced in 2018/19. WSG Tirol, meanwhile, are in 10^th place and only above Admira thanks to their superior head-to-head record.

SK Puntigamer Sturm Graz 3-0 TSV Egger Glas Hartberg

Sturm Graz extended their Bundesliga unbeaten streak to six matches (W3 D3) with a comfortable 3-0 Styrian derby victory over Hartberg that ended their slimming hopes of qualifying for the Championship Round. The visitors needed to win to have any chance of making the top six but still managed to stay relatively compact in the opening half and Sturm were unable to break the deadlock. Indeed, it was not until the second period that Stefan Hierländer and Gregory Wüthrich both found the back of the net to put Christian Ilzer’s side on the path to victory, before Danish forward Rasmus Højlund kept up his run of scoring in every game since his winter arrival from FC Copenhagen when he added a third in stoppage time. The win saw the Grazers move back into second place, two points clear of Wolfsberg, while Hartberg, in ninth place on 22 points, will now begin preparations for a second consecutive campaign in the Qualification Round.

LASK vs. FC Red Bull Salzburg

This meeting between LASK and Salzburg, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, has been postponed until Wednesday evening, due to multiple coronavirus cases in the away camp.