Gebrauchter Nachmittag in Linz

After losing 3-1 at home to Sturm Graz in the last game, Robert Klauß’s team were away in Linz on Sunday for round 29 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga season. Given the precarious situation in the battle for third, points were much-needed, but proved more than just hard to come by. Leo Querfeld was fit again and drafted straight into the starting XI, while Maximilian Hofmann missed out through injury and Jonas Auer was suspended.

 Both teams were evenly matched in the opening stages, with the action divided evenly between the two penalty areas. Fally Mayulu flicked-on a throw in which set up the first chance for Marco Grüll, whose shot was deflected just wide of goal (18’). Unfortunately, LASK’s first big chance also led to a deflected shot, but it hit a hand on its way over, and Marin Ljubicic fired past Niki Hedl from the penalty spot (31’). Problems in the build-up then allowed the hosts to pass through and slot in a second from Florian Flecker (36’), and the first half only went from bad to worse when Adil Taoui was first to the loose ball to score again after the luckless Hedl had produced a big save initially (38’). Nana Kasanwirjo sent a header over the bar after a counter break (39’), but our grim first half was compounded as Ismail Seydi took a knock to the knee and had to be replaced by Christoph Lang (42’).  

With the only half-time change in personnel, Terence Kongolo replaced Leopold Querfeld (46’) but the second half didn’t change the momentum of the match, and a big deflection on a Sascha Horvath shot only extended LASK’s lead further (56’), before Ljubicic netted another after finding space at close range (60’). Guido Burgstaller and Matthias Seidl came on for Fally Mayulu and Dennis Kaygin (62'), before Thorsten Schick came on in place of Moritz Oswald after spending a long time out injured (71'). However you look at it though, it was an incredibly disappointing afternoon, as even in the final phase, nothing more would fall Rapid’s way.

 Now we simply must put this painful defeat behind us, and clear our heads for the ÖFB Cup final on Wednesday.

Fotos: GEPA