Austria Wien are on top of the standings again

After winning against Mattersburg, coach Christian Ilzer made only one change: Patrick Wimmer started on the right wing. Dominik Fitz moved to the centre; Thomas Ebner initially sat on the bench. Erik Palmer-Brown was not in the squad due to muscular problems.

For Wattens, Michael Svoboda returned to the starting eleven after a suspension. Coach Thomas Silberberger also relied on Sebastian Santin; top scorer Zlatko Dedic sat on the bench.

Fantastic start

Austria Wien put pressure on Wattens from the start through aggressive counter-pressing. Stefan Maierhofer was forced to lose the ball, Manprit Sarkaria passed to Florian Klein. Alexander Grünwald received the cross and scored the early lead (3’).

A shot by Grünwald went over the goal (9’), the “Violets” had the game under control. After a quick free kick by the captain, Stephan Zwierschitz passed to Dominik Fitz, whose shot was blocked on the line by Stefan Hager (29’).

Wattens became more dangerous towards the end of the first half, a header by Kelvin Yeboah after a cross by Fabian Koch landed on the crossbar (35’). With the 1-0 lead, the half-time break started.

The “Violets” secured the lead all the way to the end

Thomas Ebner replaced Patrick Wimmer after the break. Everyone noticed the hard program of the past few weeks. Sarkaria put a free kick well over the goal (59’), a dangerous header from Ebner in the penalty area was blocked by Tirol’s back team (62’).

Benedikt Pichler came into the game for Alex Grünwald after 70 minutes. A header by Michael Madl after a free kick by Fitz missed the goal. A few seconds later, Pichler failed on Ferdinand Oswald with a nice volley, Christoph Monschein shot over the goal (77’). On the other side, Patrick Pentz saved a great opportunity for Yeboah (80’).

In the final phase, Dominik Prokop and Bright Edomwonyi came for Dominik Fitz and Christoph Monschein. Stefan Maierhofer missed the last chance of the game, Kelvin Yeboah saw red just before the end.

Austria Wien celebrated their second victory in a row and overtook SCR Altach in the standings, on Saturday the tipico Bundesliga will continue with another game against WSG Swarovski Tirol.

FK Austria Wien - WSG Swarovski Tirol 1-0 (1-0)

Austria Wien: Pentz; Klein, Madl, Borković, Zwierschitz; Jeggo; Sarkaria, Fitz (86’ Prokop), Grünwald (69’ Pichler), Wimmer (46’ Ebner); Monschein (89’ Edomwonyi)

Wattens: Oswald; Koch, Hager (67’ Dedic), Gugganig, Buchacher (75’ Nitzlnader); Petsos, Svoboda; Santin (46’ Rieder), Yeboah, Kovacec (75’ Toplitsch); Maierhofer

Goal: Grünwald (4’)

Yellow cards: Madl (31’), Jeggo (39’), Pichler (82’); Hager (14’), Maierhofer (81’), (88’), Nitzlnader (90’)

Red card: Yeboah (90’+5’)

Generali-Arena, referee Alan Kijas, no spectators allowed