Image: GEPA pictures/ Mario Buehner
The Wolfsbergers got four points from the two direct duels after the most recent 2-0 in Vorarlberg and made big steps towards staying up. The Altachers, who are currently two points ahead of the bottom of the table in Ried, are threatened with falling back to the bottom of the table on Saturday. For that, the Rieder would have to win in Lustenau.
Lustenau is currently only two points ahead of pursuer WAC, who was unable to bring about any decisive improvement in the race for the European Cup play-off. The Altach team, coached by Klaus Schmidt, have been waiting for a complete success for five games now, and only one of the last 15 games was won. The fact that it was at least not a defeat was mainly thanks to the strong goalie Tino Casali.
The first half was very upset in front of 2,625 spectators, duels were the order of the day, and there weren’t many chances. The first of the hosts was a hundred percent for it. Maurice Malone approached the Altach goal alone, was able to fix the ball, but found his master in Casali, who was there with a foot defense. Felix Strauss almost scored an unfortunate own goal, but the ball went wide (24′).
On the Altach side there was only a highlight in the 36th minute. After a long run by Husein Balic down the side, including some dribbling that was well worth seeing, the ball landed in the middle with Noah Bischof, who was unable to convert. The Carinthians were closer to the lead. Casali didn’t let Tai Baribo’s shot from a tight angle pass (39′), Ervin Omic shot over it from 18 meters (44′).
Even after the restart, the home side gave more control, but celebrated the 1-0 lead too early. A Scherzer hit was rightly disallowed for being offside (49′). Matthäus Taferner, who was extremely active on the offensive, shone with a nice turn in the 58th minute, but then shot wide of the goal from eleven meters. On their own defense, WAC was lucky that a bishop shot that Hendrik Bonmann threw off didn’t find an Altach striker (65′).
It got really tricky again in the 83rd minute. Referee Stefan Ebner decided after an “on-field review” instead of handball and penalties for the WAC because of a slight foul play for the Altacher in their own penalty area. The Carinthians pressed vehemently for victory, but were unlucky in the end. Casali held the point with a parade in a ball volley (90th). Four minutes later, the ex-Chelsea legionnaire shot wide of the far corner after a combination of two substitutes with Augustine Boakye.
Source: Nachrichten
