An ex-Rieder took away the Innviertel team’s last hope of promotion

Football can be so unfair: The top game in the 2nd football league between SV Guntamatic Ried and GAK was like a slippery slope – and yet the league leaders from Styria stole three points with a 1-0 win the Innviertel.

With Thomas Mayer, of all people, an ex-Rieder scored in the 75th minute and thus took away the Innviertel team’s last little hope of promotion. The Graz team extended their lead over coach Maximilian Senft’s team to 16 points.

What Mayer failed to do with Ried in 2018, he should now be able to do with the Red Jackets: The 28-year-old scored five goals in the 7-1 win against Kapfenberg in the last round, but there were still tears after the final whistle because the promotion was with him Ried didn’t work out.

The performance of the Innviertes was by no means bad – on the contrary: driven by 6,120 fans, the home team took command from kick-off. In the seventh minute, the ball ended up in the Graz goal: The referee team led by Walter Altmann ruled Wilfried Eza’s shot offside – it was extremely thin.

Ried was undeterred and continued to play at high speed towards the GAK goal: Mark Grosse (10th) and David Bumberger (16th) missed good opportunities. The home team came very close to scoring in the 25th minute: Ante Bajic only hit the side netting after an ideal pass from Grosse.

Ried presses, GAK scores

Shortly afterwards, the guests suddenly took the lead after Rieder was careless: After a failed back pass, Ried goalie Andreas Leitner saved against GAK striker Daniel Maderner (28th).

The second half also began with a shocking moment from Innviertel’s perspective: Ried goalkeeper Andreas Leitner ran out, but lost the ball to Maderner: The Graz striker narrowly missed the empty goal from 40 meters (48th). After that, Ried was on the trigger: Fabian Wohlmuth (49th), Bajic (50th, 69th), Eza (60th, 65th), and Grosse (71st) had a variety of opportunities. But GAK scored the goal – that’s how you become champions.