5-1 win in first test match against Donaufeld

Austria defeated Regionalliga team SR Donaufeld 5-1 in their first test match of the winter preparations on the artificial turf at the Austria Academy. Dominik Nišandžić and Marko Raguž scored in the first half, while Konstantin Aleksa and Johannes Eggestein (brace) scored after the break to seal the win.

Coach Stephan Helm fielded a young starting eleven in the first friendly match of the year. Tin Plavotić and Philipp Wiesinger were given a break, while Ifeanyi Ndukwe (minor ankle injury) and Marijan Österreicher (ill) were also absent from the first match of the new year. Alongside Aleksandar Dragović, two home-grown players, Dejan Radonjić and Aleksa Ilić, were given a chance to shine, while Philipp Maybach and Dominik Nišandžić pulled the strings in the centre. The wing duo of Reinhold Ranftl and Taeseok Lee were tasked with providing pace as usual. In the purple attack, Sanel Šaljić and Kelvin Boateng got their chance from the start alongside striker Marko Raguž.

Double strike after a quarter of an hour

After some initial probing, Raguž had the first double chance: first, a spectacular overhead kick was blocked, then shortly afterwards the 27-year-old put the ball over the bar after a cross from Boateng (8'). The visitors from Floridsdorf played aggressively and pressed man-to-man, while the Violets tried to find creative solutions in their build-up play, which worked better and better as the game went on. Şahin-Radlinger relieved the pressure with a long ball to Boateng, who sent the ball over the goal with his left foot (12'). The Violets then scored twice in quick succession. Nineteen-year-old Nišandžić put his side ahead with a follow-up shot (16'), and shortly afterwards Ranftl was brought down by the Donaufeld goalkeeper after a fantastic one-touch combination, with Raguž confidently converting the resulting penalty (18'). The Violets then controlled the game, but Donaufeld took advantage of a misunderstanding between Şahin-Radlinger and Maybach after around half an hour to reduce the deficit to 2-1 (33'). The narrow lead remained intact going into the break.

Confident second half

The Veilchen coaching team made a number of planned substitutions after the break. Only four players remained on the pitch: Radonjić, Ilić, Maybach and Nišandžić. However, this did not change the course of the game much. Helm's team had much more possession and repeatedly managed to pull their opponents' formation apart with clever play. Schablas missed a good chance (49'), but shortly afterwards Aleksa restored the two-goal lead with a lob after an ideal pass from Nišandžić – 3-1 (51'). Around ten minutes later, Johannes Eggestein was on hand to react quickly and head home to make it 4-1 (62'). Towards the end of the game, the tempo slowed down before Eggestein put the icing on the cake with his second goal (88'). In the closing stages, 20-year-old Valentin Toifl made his debut for the purple professionals.

Head coach Stephan Helm: "It was a good first friendly with a decent result. We tried out a lot of things, gave numerous young players playing time and created a number of scoring chances. At the same time, the match also showed us the areas we need to work on in the coming weeks. The first week of training was intense, but thanks to the new artificial turf at the Austria Academy, we can train outside despite the current weather conditions."

Austria Wien – SR Donaufeld 5-1 (2-1)

Austria, 1st half: Şahin-Radlinger – Radonjić, Dragović, Ilić – Ranftl, Nišandžić, Maybach, Taeseok Lee – Šaljić, Raguž, Boateng

2nd half: Kos – Radonjić (Toifl 65'), Lee Kang Hee, Ilić – Guenouche, Maybach, Nišandžić (Barry 65'), Schablas – Fischer, Eggestein, Aleksa

Austria goals: Nišandžić, Raguž, Aleksa, Eggestein (2)