2:1 victory in the last test match

Dress rehearsal a success. Austria Wien win their final test match of the winter preparations against Admira Wacker 2:1 with goals from Nik Prelec and Matteo Pérez Vinlöf turning an early deficit in the Violets' favour.

Austria Vienna welcomed 2nd division leaders Admira Wacker for the final test match of the winter preparations. It was a reunion with a number of former Austrian players, including Peter Stöger, Ralf Muhr and goalkeeper Sandali Condé, who only moved to the Südstädter from co-operation club Stripfing around a week ago.

Coach Stephan Helm sent out his regular squad for the dress rehearsal ahead of the Cup quarter-final in Graz (Saturday, 1 February, 18:15). Philipp Wiesinger (thigh) and Lucas Galvão (ankle) were absent through injury, but should return to training in the coming days. The picture is similar for young defender Philipp Maybach, who will return to training after tearing a ligament in his ankle, depending on how much pain he feels.

Early deficit, good reaction

The Violets got off to a flying start in the match. After three minutes, Matteo Pérez Vinlöf fed Nik Prelec from the left, but he failed to hit the ball properly (3'). Shortly afterwards, Abubakr Barry laid off for Manfred Fischer in the sixteen, whose shot from the second row was too easy (5). With Admira's first attack, goalkeeper Samuel Şahin-Radlinger then had to reach behind him: Benjamin Kenneth Summers got to the ball after a scramble in front of goal and shot unstoppably into the far corner (7').

After going behind, Helm's team needed a little time to get dangerously close to the opposition goal again. Although Austria had a lot of possession, Admira kept the spaces tight in defence and repeatedly created dangerous moments with straightforward switching actions. This was also the case after 16 minutes when Matthew Anderson headed just wide of the goal (16'). However, the Violets had the next big chance - again in the person of Nik Prelec. After a pinpoint pass from Dominik Fitz, the Slovenian was free to shoot. However, the ball was cleared on the line in the greatest of emergencies by a Südstadt player. A short time later, the burly striker was rewarded. Matteo Pérez Vinlöf combined with Maurice Malone on the left flank. The latter brought the ball sharply to the centre, where Prelec prevailed against an Admiran and pushed the ball over the line to make it 1:1 (34').

The Violets now kept their foot on the accelerator. First Reinhold Ranftl put the ball over the goal from the second row (36‘), shortly afterwards Nik Prelec fed Dominik Fitz after winning the ball, whose finish was too easy and became easy prey for Condé in the visitors’ goal (38').

Austria were to make one more advance into the opposing third, however. Barry dribbled towards the defence and passed the ball to the left to the onrushing Matteo Pérez Vinlöf. The 18-year-old left-footer took heart and tucked the ball into the far corner to give Austria a 2:1 lead just before the break (45+1).

Violets had the game under control

Shortly after the break, Austria had the chance to score a third goal. Johannes Handl played Dominik Fitz free between the lines and the ball went via Maurice Malone to substitute Hakim Guenouche. The onrushing Reinhold Ranftl took the latter's cross on the volley, but missed the far corner by a wide margin (48').

The game then levelled out and lost a lot of pace and goalmouth action. Admira were no longer as aggressive as they had been in the first half, the Violets combined favourably, but often lacked the necessary precision in the final third. Fitz shot too poorly after a counter-attack (54‘), then Fischer got stuck by his opponent after winning the ball from a promising position on the right five-corner (57’). The Lower Austrians created two half-chances with a Gashi flick that missed the right-hand corner (65‘) and a shot into the net from Reinhard Young (88’). The final goal was scored by the busy Nik Prelec, who headed a cross from Reinhold Ranftl just past the short corner (90+1).

Austria Wien - Admira Wacker 2-1 (2-1)

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger (45th Kos) - Handl, Dragović, Plavotić - Ranftl, Fischer © (86th Potzmann), Barry (70th Wels), Pérez Vinlöf (45th Guenouche) - Fitz (62nd Gruber) - Malone (70th Raguž), Prelec.

Austria goals: Prelec 34, Pérez Vinlöf 45.