Home win over Austria Vienna | OneFootball

Deserved win brings big points for title battle

In our penultimate home match of the 2024/25 ADMIRAL Bundesliga season, we beat Austria Vienna 2-0. The victory was vital to keep us in the title running, but with Sturm Graz and WAC both taking 1-0 away wins earlier in the afternoon, we remain in fourth for now.

Match summary

John Mellberg made his second start for our side as we began the big match – would there be a cagey opening? Not in any way! Mads Bidstrup & Co camped out in the Austria half in the opening phases.

After Valentin Sulzbacher's first corner was turned behind by the Violet defensive line, the second soon followed from the youngster. It reached the far post, where Mellberg was able to get a header in. Vinlöf brushed the ball with his hand in stopping it, but referee Markus Hameter did not whistle for a spot kick – a decision confirmed by VAR as it remained level (10').

There were few significant moments after that intense opening phase, with tactical fouls defining a midfield battle. Stephan Helm's side started to show plenty of purpose as Prelec was picked out perfectly by Fitz and had a go from short range, only for Mellberg to stop him and turn the ball behind for a corner (32').

We then had our best moment of the first half as Schlager sent a long kick down the field that saw two Austria defenders collide and allow Vertessen to take the ball towards goal, only for his shot to rattle the crossbar (34').

The 11,851 spectators at the Red Bull Arena were left hopeful that they would finally see a goal in the second half. It didn't take long until the first chance came - as Dorgeles Nene cut back for Vertessen from the left, but the Belgian couldn't get enough on his effort (49').

Things continued in that tone as our Red Bulls upped the pressure! The Viennese struggled to threaten Schlager in the second period and created no major openings.

Our dominance became increasingly clear from the 70% possession and 60% challenges won over the opening 75 minutes. While the clinical touch had been lacking for so long, it finally came at an ideal time. Morgalla took a long throw-in that found its way to Nene, who was able to drift inside and send the ball into the top corner from 20 metres out. The eagerly awaited and richly deserved opening goal had finally come (80')!

The fans didn't have to wait long to celebrate for a second time. Daghim supplied Petar Ratkov ideally from the edge of the box, having taken down a long Tim Trummer pass superbly. The Serb turned in style and slotted straight past Sahin-Radlinger to make it 2-0 (89').

It could have been 3-0 just before full-time, only for the crossbar and the offside flag to combine to deny us. Our 2-0 win over Austria Vienna keeps us within reach of the top of the table. We have another big one this Friday (9 May) away at Sturm Graz at 19:30 CEST. Tickets for the away end and our official bus journeys can still be booked until Wednesday morning in our Online Ticket Shop!

to the away info

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Thomas Letsch

Mads Bidstrup

Line-ups

Substitutions

Ratkov for Sulzbacher (72'), E. Baidoo for Morgalla (72'), Trummer for Gloukh (85'), Diambou for Vertessen (85'), Clark for Bidstrup (90+2')

Yellow cards

None

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