Hartberg exacerbated Austria’s crisis with a 2-1 home win

Austria, on the other hand, suffered its fourth defeat in the seventh round with only one win and is on the decline in tenth place.

Andreas Gruber (10th) brought the Viennese forward quickly before Hartberg hit back through Donis Avdijaj (43rd, 51st) shortly before and after the break. Hartberg’s Ousmane Diakite (61′) gave Austria a half-hour advantage, but coach Michael Wimmer’s team was unable to capitalize on it. Hartberg had recently lost six times in a row against Austria in the league, so President Brigitte Annerl was able to fully enjoy her birthday party with the home fans.

Guests started ambitiously

Austria wanted to score big points against their favorite opponents of the recent past, while TSV coach Markus Schopp wanted to annoy the next major Viennese club after the win at Rapid (1-0). In late summer temperatures, things got busy quickly. At Hartberg, Avdijaj was at the forefront as five-time goalscorer Maximilian Entrup had to miss the game due to back problems. Austria hoped for more stability in the midfield with the return of James Holland. The Viennese only needed a few minutes for their first great chance: Marvin Martins shot from eleven meters after a free kick, but thundered over the crossbar.

The reward for a purple urge phase followed a little later. A blocked shot by Fisnik Asllani became an assist for Gruber, who poked the ball past Hartberg’s goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger. The 27-year-old scored four of only five Austria goals this season. The Violets didn’t let up, continued to press early, but conceded the equalizer almost immediately. After a throw-in, Avdijaj headed to Tobias Kainz, Christian Früchtl responded with a brilliant save from a few meters (12th).

Austria made a lot of mistakes

It shouldn’t be the only chance for the Hartbergers. After half an hour of play at the latest, the East Styrians were on the move, Austria lost more and more of the thread and made familiar mistakes again. If the guests’ attempt came to nothing, Hartberg had plenty of space to launch counterattacks.

For the time being, Martins prevented the equalizer with full effort in a save on the line (39th), but shortly before the break Früchtl had no chance when Avdijaj placed a shot into the far corner after a counterattack. The Austria keeper saved his team from worse in the duel with Christoph Lang. In this scene too, the Wimmer team’s defense was exposed. After their goal, Austria only remembered one scene when Asllani tried to outwit the rushing Sallinger with a lob. The ball clearly missed.

After the break it seemed as if the Austrians had caught themselves, Dominik Fitz shot over from an excellent position. Of all people, Früchtl, who had been strong until then, gave Hartberg the 2-1 win. The German completely miscalculated a miss from Sallinger and Avdijaj had free rein to score his second goal of the afternoon.

A careless action by Diakite gave Austria hope again. The midfielder, who had already been warned, hit Manfred Fischer too hard and had to leave the pitch. Schopp and Wimmer then tried to bring freshness into the game with substitutions. Hartberg’s increasingly dense defensive line remained insurmountable for Austria, who had no ideas.