Late goal conceded, but:

LIVE from 5pm: WAC must face Hartberg!

Hartberg win against the WAC.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Things continue to go according to plan for Manfred Schmid as coach of TSV Hartberg. On his return to his old stomping ground, the Styrians recorded a 3:2 (1:0) win at WAC on Saturday to kick off the 9th round of the Bundesliga. A WAC goal in stoppage time came too late. This meant that the third game under the former defender's leadership also ended with three points. The reward, at least until Sunday, was an advance to sixth place in the table, just one point behind fifth-placed WAC. 

Hartberg took the momentum from their two recent victories against WSG Tirol (1:0) and SCR Altach (2:0) with them. Patrik Mijic (9') put the visitors ahead in the Lavanttal-Arena with his ninth goal in his 10th competitive game of the season, Tobias Kainz (56') scored the second soon after the restart. After Thierno Ballo (67') scored the final goal, Fabian Wilfinger (71') made everything clear. Angelo Gattermayer (93') was only able to add the finishing touches. TSV thus won against the WAC, just like last season (3:0, 2:0). After the 3-1 defeat against WSG Tirol, WAC suffered their second home setback in a row.

The Styrians started the game better in front of 3,041 spectators, had much more possession and were rewarded with the lead early on. Donis Avdijaj played an ideal ball into the path of Mijic, who finished with his first touch into the corner. Avdijaj (12') should have added to his tally, but was denied by the strong WAC goalkeeper Nikolas Polster, as was Youba Diarra (13') shortly afterwards. The Carinthians had little grip and were harmless going forward. The most dangerous thing in the first half was a Gattermayer left-footed shot over the goal (26'), as an Atanga goal (32') was rightly disallowed for offside. At the other end, an Omoregie header was just inches wide (39').

Another goal in stoppage time
Little changed after the restart. Hartberg played pleasingly forward, Dominik Prokop was denied by the WAC goalkeeper after a failed Jasic cross (48'), who also made a strong save to keep out a Mijic shot from the short corner (52') and thwarted an Avdijaj chance (56'). The 0:2 was scored immediately afterwards from a Kainz volley after a Pfeifer cross. WAC showed no signs of improvement, which made the follow-up goal all the more surprising, as the Styrians were inattentive in defense for once. Nwaiwu extended a Jasic corner with his head to Ballo, who dusted it off at the far corner.

Manfred Schmid

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

However, TSV did not let this throw them off their stride and dealt the home side the final blow four minutes later. After Diarra's cross, Wilfinger acrobatically latched onto the ball with his heel and scored his first Bundesliga goal from close range. After that, the hosts, who were without injured defender Dominik Baumgartner, pressed hard but could do no more than score with a header from Gattermayer after Ballo's cross.