The frustration at SV Guntamatic Ried after the 1:2 in the spring opener against Wolfsberger AC was understandable. Only one shot on the Rieder goal appeared in the statistics after the game. Nevertheless, the Wolfsberger met twice. Even more bitter was the missed penalty for Rieder after a Novak handball in the 85th minute. Tin Plavotic headed the opponent’s hand from close range. When OÖN asked, the ÖFB officially confirmed the mistake made by referee Gerhard Grobelnik yesterday. “The analysis of the scene by the ÖFB refereeing commission showed that due to the widening of the body – the arm was stretched out at a right angle from the body – a penalty should have been awarded.”
Twice as bitter: Harald Lechner, the VAR man of this game, had recommended to referee Gerhard Grobelnik to look at the situation again on the monitor. Grobelnik did that too – but he then stuck to the original decision to consider the handball as not punishable. A look back at last week’s Rieder Cup quarterfinals against Klagenfurt makes the action even more curious. It was exactly the opposite in an almost identical situation.
Grobelnik, then the VAR on the monitor, had pointed out to Lechner that he had overlooked a handball in the match. Lechner looked at the pictures on the sidelines again, awarded the penalty afterwards – and Ried took the step into the semi-finals with the penalty goal to make it 1-0 in a 2-0 win. “The referee also said after the game that he made the decision out of deep inner conviction. But for me there’s no discussion, he just didn’t want to reveal himself and revise his wrong decision,” said Ried’s coach Robert Ibertsberger annoyed .
Happy despite defeat
Even if it wasn’t enough to win a point: Ried’s performance in Carinthia was more than appealing. Ibertsberger: “Hats off to my team, we partially dominated Wolfsberg.” However, Ried made life difficult for himself with individual mistakes: A simple loss of the ball made it 0:1. Gragger also unluckily deflected the ball into his own goal.
The guests practically scored the 1:2 themselves after a blackout by Murat Satin. His return pass was intercepted and converted by Wolfsberg’s Baribo.
On Saturday, in the fight for the championship group at home against Wattens, a win is needed – Marcel Ziegl, who was ailing recently, and Markus Lackner, who is still ailing, should be there again. (haba/rawa)
Source: Nachrichten
