Prelec scored Austria's winner in Graz!

Nik Prelec scored the only goal in a crazy game and sent Austria back to the top of the table. William Bøving and Leon Grgić saw red for Sturm Graz, as did Reinhold Ranftl in the closing stages. Sturm celebrated an equaliser in the 97th minute, but it was rightly disallowed.

Stephan Helm had faith in Wednesday's winners and made no changes to the starting XI. Johannes Handl returned to the match squad, but remained on the bench for the time being.  

Malick Yalcouyé was missing for Sturm Graz due to his fifth yellow card, with Tochi Chukwuani taking his place in left midfield. Otherwise, Jürgen Säumel also stuck with his team from Wednesday.  

No goals, but red against Sturm

The champions got off to an ambitious start. The first excitement came in the third minute when Leon Grgić dropped in the Austria penalty area and was shown a yellow card for the offence. A header from Jon Gorenc Stankovič went over the goal, Gregory Wüthrich popped up in front of Samuel Şahin-Radlinger after a free-kick but shot over (7', 9'). The Violets were dangerous for the first time in the 13th minute, when Nik Prelec failed to clear the Graz defence after a long pass from Philipp Wiesinger. Just a short time later, Reinhold Ranftl sent Maurice Malone on his way, but he not only beat Kjell Scherpen but also the goal (15').

From the 28th minute onwards, Sturm Graz were down to ten men and William Bøving was shown the red card after an offence against Ranftl. After a corner kick from Dominik Fitz, Scherpen had to make a real effort with a header from Philipp Wiesinger (37'). Malone was pulled off his feet by Emanuel Aiwu in the penalty area, but no penalty was awarded (42'). A shot from Hakim Guenouche in first-half stoppage time missed the target and the game went into the break goalless.

Another red against Sturm, golden goal by Prelec

There were no changes on either side at the break. Fitz put a first ball dangerously towards goal, Prelec was one step too late (47'). Tomi Horvat tried a shot from distance, no problem for Şahin-Radlinger (56'). After an hour, Matteo Pérez Vinlöf replaced Hakim Guenouche and Austria were still not well in the game in the second half.  

In the 65th minute, Wüthrich hit the bar with a header - luck for the Violets. Grgić then elbowed Aleksandar Dragović and was shown a yellow card by referee Sebastian Gishamer, leaving Sturm with just nine players (66').

Andreas Gruber and Johannes Handl came on for Manfred Fischer and Tin Plavotić. Austria pinned Sturm back in their own penalty area, but Graz defended well. Gruber missed the target and a shot from Malone was blocked (79‘, 80’). Fitz took the subsequent corner kick to the centre, Scherpen misjudged it and Prelec was lurking behind. The Slovenian capitalised on the situation and scored his 6th goal of the season to give the Violets a 1-0 lead (80').

Scherpen was able to fend off a shot from Fitz (83'), Ranftl was shown a yellow card in the 89th minute and the game entered a heated eight-minute final phase. Konstantin Aleksa and Marvin Potzmann came on for Prelec and Abubakr Barry. Belmin Beganovic scored the supposed equaliser in the 97th minute, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul. Malone saw yellow and will therefore miss next week's game in Salzburg alongside Ranftl.

Austria won 1-0 in Graz, thus winning the direct duel against the champions and taking the lead in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga table with four rounds to go.

SK Sturm Graz - Austria Wien 0-1 (0-0)

Sturm: Scherpen; Johnston (86' Hödl), Aiwu, Wüthrich, Lavalée (90+5' Camara); Gorenc Stanković; Horvat (72' Malić), Kiteishvili, Chukwuani (86' Beganovic); Grgić, Bøving

Austria: Şahin-Radlinger; Wiesinger, Dragović, Plavotić (74' Handl); Ranftl, Fischer (74' Gruber), Guenouche (61' Pérez Vinlöf); Barry (90+2' Potzmann), Fitz; Prelec (90+2' Aleksa), Malone

Goal: Prelec (80')

Yellow cards: Grgić (3'), Wüthrich (29'), Kiteishvili (66'), Lavalée (84'), Hierländer (after the match); Wiesinger (48'), Ranftl (73'), Pérez Vinlöf (90'), Malone (90+9'), Guenouche (after the match)

Yellow-red cards: Grgić (66'); Ranftl (89')

Red card: Bøving (28')

Merkur Arena, referee Sebastian Gishamer, 15,427 spectators