The “Veilchen” celebrated a 3-0 away win against Hartberg in the eighth round after goals from Andreas Gruber (24th) and Aleksandar Jukic (57th) and an own goal from Thomas Kofler (67th), crashing the TSV birthday party -President Brigitte Annerl. The Styrians slipped down to tenth place and are only two points ahead of bottom SCR Altach.
Austria coach Manfred Schmid made only one change compared to the 0-0 home draw against Be’er Sheva in the Conference League on Thursday. Left-back Ziad El Sheiwi was a new addition to the starting lineup, making his first appearance for the Violette squad since he suffered a cruciate ligament tear around ten months ago. However, the 18-year-old is said to have torn his cruciate ligament again in the final phase, reported “Sky”.
Irrespective of El Sheiwi’s bad luck with injuries, the continuity in the selection of personnel should pay off for Austria. The guests presented themselves as a stronger team from the start, the first shots were a Galvao shot from the pentagon (5th) and a Jukic header (14th), both of which missed their target. Gruber did better in the 24th minute – the offensive man was not attacked properly, took measurements from a good 25 meters and scored via the bottom edge of the bar, which is well worth seeing.
Own goal brought decision
Even after that, the Austrians stayed on the trigger. Jukic tested Hartberg goalie Raphael Sallinger (27′), a long-range shot by Matthias Braunöder flew past the post (33′). TSV trainer Klaus Schmidt reacted at the break and brought in two new offensive players in Rene Kriwak and Dario Tadic. But Austria remained more dangerous, for example when Lukas Mühl headed the ball, which Sallinger blocked against the crossbar (53′). Four minutes later, after preparatory work by Gruber, Jukic made it 2-0 for the Viennese from just a few yards out.
Tension only seemed to build up once more when Tadic fired from close range and from an acute angle, but his shot was cleared by Galvao (61′). During the counterattack that followed, Jukic passed the ball past the short corner. The final decision came from an own goal by Kofler. The defender deflected a cross from substitute Muharem Huskovic into the Hartberger goal (67th).
Hinteregger and Polster in the stadium
After that it was all about Styrian resistance, Austria easily played the three points home and thus gained self-confidence for the Conference League away match on Thursday against Lech Poznan. For the Hartberg supporters, the defeat was easier to cope with thanks to the free beer donated by Annerl. Congratulations for the 53-year-old since Sunday came in the stadium from Martin Hinteregger and Toni Polster, among others.
Source: Nachrichten
