Despite the majority, LASK once again crashed against Hartberg

On Sunday, the Styrians, who played outnumbered for a good twenty minutes, drew 0-0 with the less creative Linzers in the home game of the 19th round and thus remained undefeated in the tenth direct duel.

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Third-placed LASK, on ​​the other hand, is still waiting for its first win of 2024 and had to let both Hartberg (5th) and Klagenfurt (4th) come within four points.

While Hartberg returned a central player in midfield support Ousmane Diakite, LASK was missing its most important man, Robert Zulj, due to illness. Linz’s top scorer was represented by Valon Berisha, who had moved up one stage.

Initial enthusiasm

However, the guests did not lack initial enthusiasm. The focus was on LASK striker Moses Usor, who first knocked on the crossbar (4th) and shot in a little later to make it 1-0 (8th). After a VAR check, the number one disappeared from the scoreboard again due to offside, and Maxim Talowjerow then caused Black and White danger once again with a header next to the goal (14th).

The game, like Linz’s dominance, plateaued after the first half hour. Hartberg came up a bit, but only recorded a few good offensive actions and two shots from Jürgen Heil and Donis Avdijaj (29th, 30th), which narrowly missed the LASK goal.

With the restart, some momentum returned to the game. Usor scored again from an offside position (47′), a well-taken long-range shot from Diakite whizzed just past the LASK goal (48′). Twenty uneventful minutes later, the Malian was sent off with a red card after an unfortunate foul on Berisha (68′).

This changed relatively little about the gameplay. Although the Styrians were now exposed to increased pressure, they successfully kept the visitors’ offensive in check. Briefly, after a penalty whistle, there was even hope of a surprise for TSV, but George Bello’s alleged handball was overturned after the VAR study (80th).

LASK was also unable to capitalize on its superiority in the finish. Hartberg’s defense was always on point against the less creative attempts and managed to secure the point quite confidently.