Last-minute victory in the play-off semifinal!

Matteo Meisl gave Austria an early lead after a corner kick, but Wolfsberger AC managed a surprise equaliser through Augustine Boakye after the break. When everyone was already expecting extra time, Dominik Fitz redeemed the Violets with a stroke of genius in the 94th minute. Hartberg will visit the Generali-Arena on Friday for the first play-off final.

Coach Christian Wegleitner had to do without Reinhold Ranftl due to a fever, with Luca Pazourek taking his place on the right flank. Otherwise, the starting XI remained unchanged from the win in Linz. Moritz Wels and Marvin Martins were back in the squad.

At WAC, Lukas Ibertsberger came into the starting line-up for Scott Kennedy, while Nikolas Veratschnig replaced Mamadou Diabaté.

Matteo Meisl's first goal!

Austria started well, and fortunately the first goal came from the first corner. Dominik Fitz delivered the ball perfectly to the centre and Matteo Meisl headed in his first Bundesliga goal to make it 0-1 (8'). The Violets continued to dominate the game thereafter, but were unable to create any major scoring opportunities. WAC became stronger after half an hour, with Christian Früchtl saving from Maximilian Scharfetter after a failed build-up play (30'). Our goalkeeper was also able to keep out long-range shots from Adis Jasic and Nikolas Veratschnig (32‘, 37’). Fisnik Asllani failed to beat Lukas Gütlbauer in the Carinthian goal, his own follow-up shot hit the outside of the net (42') - a narrow lead for the Violets at the break.

The WAC equalised, Fitz redeemed the Violets

Marvin Martins replaced the injured Tin Plavotić at the break. Alexander Schmidt tested Gütlbauer with an unmarked shot to the far corner, after which Manfred Fischer shot over from the resulting corner (54'). After a good performance, Schmidt's game was over and Andreas Gruber came into the match. Frans Krätzig made way for Hakim Guenouche. Marvin Potzmann took a shot from distance, but it was parried away (60'). A volley from Gruber missed the goal (61').

WAC equalised in the 64th minute when substitute Augustine Boakye scored with a powerful shot from the edge of the box to make it 1-1. The Lavanttaler almost turned the game around completely, but a header from Thierno Ballo fortunately went just wide (66').

Austria kept at it, a shot from Fischer was too central and Guenouche aimed just wide of the far corner (69', 72'). In the 73rd minute, Fisnik Asllani supposedly gave Austria the lead again, but the VAR ruled the goal back for offside. James Holland came into the team for Luca Pazourek. The Violets pressed for the decisive goal, which was scored 30 seconds before the end of four minutes of stoppage time. Dominik Fitz capitalised on a slip by Gütlbauer with a stroke of genius and scored the all-important 2-1 (90+4')!

RZ Pellets WAC - Austria Wien 1-2 (0-1)

WAC: Gütlbauer; Baumgartner, Omic, Piesinger (62' Diabaté); Jasic, Müller, Altunashvili (62' Sabitzer), Ibertsberger; Scharfetter (46' Boakye), Ballo, Veratschnig (84' Morgenstern)

Austria: Früchtl; Handl, Plavotić (46' Martins), Meisl; Pazourek (77' Holland), Fischer, Potzmann, Krätzig (57' Guenouche); Asllani, Fitz, Schmidt (57' Gruber)

Goals: Boakye (64'); Meisl (8'), Fitz (90+4'*)

Yellow cards: Omic (14'), Veratschnig (79'); Potzmann (56'), Fischer (58'), Asllani (63')

Lavanttal-Arena, referee Stefan Ebner, 2,777 spectators