Second League

Admira go into the winter break with a three-point lead

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Admira will spend the winter at the top of the 2nd Football League table with a three-point lead over SV Ried. The Südstädter won 4:3 (1:1) at Kapfenberger SV on Friday evening in the last round before the winter break. 

Prior to that, second-placed Rieder had held on for a 2:1 (1:1) win against SV Stripfing. Vienna remain third in the table after a 3:1 (0:1) win against FC Liefering at the end of the season.

SKN St. Pölten picked up their fifth win in the last six rounds with a 3-2 (1-1) victory over FAC. Voitsberg won a surprisingly clear 3:0 (2:0) in Amstetten and thus increased their lead over the relegation places.

Admira looked like certain winners in the constant snow in Kapfenberg, before things got tense in the final stages. For a long time, the team from Südstadt looked like the league leaders. Ex-Kapfenberg man Deni Alar (19') put the visitors ahead, and even the surprising equalizer by Florian Haxha (38') did not shake Thomas Silberberger's team. Josef Weberbauer (51') with a shot into the far corner, Alar (63') and Weberbauer again (66') - whose free-kick flew past friend and foe and into the goal via the inside of the bar - made it 4:1 at the interval.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Admira wavered
Lukas Malicsek's own goal (78') still fell into the unfortunate category, but shortly afterwards Kapfenberg took advantage of another moment of carelessness by the visitors to make it 3-4 through Adrian Marinovic (80'). Admira now wavered considerably, but the Upper Styrians pressed in vain for the equalizer.

Rieder were determined from the start and deservedly took the lead with the eighth goal of the season from their top scorer Mark Grosse (32'). A deflected shot from the striker then bounced against the crossbar. Stripfing initially had little offensive presence, but equalized shortly before the break. Moritz Wels curled a corner towards the first bar, where Luca Pazourek headed home (45'). The Innviertler were not to be deterred and struck after a resting ball. Grosse played a free-kick to Ante Bajic, who did not miss the chance (57'). Stripfing did not give up and caused a shock moment for Rieder shortly before the end. After a cross from Felix Orgolitsch, Darijo Pecirep and Marco Hausjell missed the ball.

The game started badly for Vienna. Christoph Monschein apparently suffered a serious injury in a running duel after less than ten minutes and was carried off the pitch. Lieferingen then took the lead through Zeteny Jano (37'), with Vienna goalkeeper Bernhard Unger not cutting the best figure with the Salzburg player's low shot. However, Jano also gave his team a second half in which they were almost completely outnumbered. Referee Achim Untergasser gave him a yellow-red card (51') for an alleged foul on the attacker. Vienna managed to turn things around within a few minutes. Luca Edelhofer (64') took advantage of a misplaced back pass from Bryan Okoh to make it 1:1, Philipp Ochs (66') and Patrick Schmidt (70') followed up with a header.

St. Pölten's run continues
Marcus Maier (8') quickly put FAC ahead in St. Pölten, but the Lower Austrians equalized for the first time through Winfred Amoah (34'). The Floridsdorf side also opened the scoring quickly after the break through Patrick Puchegger (54'), but this time the "Wolves" only needed a minute to reply through Ramiz Harakate (55'). FAC captain Christian Bubalovic was shown a yellow card (69') after an impetuous tackle and Elijah Just (71') immediately gave St. Pölten the lead for the first time, which they would not relinquish.

Voitsberg conceded little in Amstetten. Philipp Zuna (32') and Kevin-Prince Milla (41') scored for the efficient visitors before the break, with Max Suppan providing the assist on both occasions. Amstetten wanted to respond in the second 45 minutes, and an early opportunity from Dominik Weixelbraun could perhaps have sparked a comeback. After a yellow card for Sebastian Leimhofer (71'), the Mostviertler's prospects were as good as hopeless. Martin Krienzer (89') even scored a third Voitsberg goal.