The Styrians remained unbeaten against Admira for the ninth duel in a row, but the draw did not cause any celebration. Kurt Russ‘s team failed to draw level with sixth-placed Austria three laps before the end of the regular season. Hartberg (22) is away for the Viennese (24 points) next Saturday. Admira is at home against LASK in action.
After climbing to the semi-finals of the Uniqa-ÖFB-Cup via Rapid, Russ relied on his winning team. Rene Swete, who was not yet fully fit, was again represented in goal by Florian Faist. Less than a minute and a half had been played when Donis Avdijaj attempted an acrobatic but unsuccessful attempt. It was the start of an offensive game in which Admira did not hide.
New Admira duo creates momentum
Andreas Herzog relied on the newcomers Vodhanel and Stefano Surdanovic in the offensive department. The duo provided momentum. The guests pulled out a few standard situations, but a corner kick by Admira almost leveled the Hartberg lead. Donis Avdijaj launched the counterattack, but Tobias Kainz was unable to control the ball alone in front of Admira goalie Andreas Leitner (28′). Marlon Mustapha shot wide less than a minute later, the offside flag flying.
When the 0:0 seemed to be done at the break, the Südstadters struck after another ball at rest. Vodhanel took a measure from over 20 meters with his left and hit the corner past the wall. The 24-year-old Czech rewarded himself for his courageous performance. Admira’s leadership was not undeserved. The statistics attested to the Herzog-Elf more possession of the ball, more duels won and more shots on goal.
Admira with chances, Hartberg scores
Admira missed a preliminary decision after changing sides. The agile Mustapha failed at Faist (48′) before Roman Kerschbaum lobbed the ball over the Hartberg goalkeeper, but also past the empty goal (57′). Hartberg swayed menacingly, Russ brought in fresh energy with Dario Tadic and Noel Niemann. The move worked out five minutes later: Heil steered a Farkas cross towards the goal, but Leitner, slightly irritated by a team-mate, couldn’t tame the shot.
There was a short breather for the teams when referee Stefan Ebner had to go into the dressing room in the 70th minute after technical problems. In the final phase, Admira had advantages again. Faist was there with a deflected shot by substitute Angelo Gattermayer (90′), Vodhanel just missed his second goal (91′).
Comments on the game:
Kurt Russ (Hartberg trainer): “After the CoV problems, I have to give my team a lot of praise. After the difficult game against Rapid, the players may have lacked the strength to deliver a top performance over 90 minutes. From that point of view you have to be satisfied with the point. The result isn’t ideal, but we’re still in contention for the top six. It’s all close together. Hartberg will face the situation. If you beat Rapid away from home, you don’t need to be afraid of Austria.”
Andreas Herzog (Admira coach): “If you watch the game, we should have taken the three points. You can be very satisfied with the performance. We didn’t make the preliminary decision, after Hartberg was substituted they were clearly better from the 60th to 70th minute, and we had problems there. In the end we really wanted to win and we missed huge opportunities. We knew it would be difficult in Hartberg, but we deserved more. The fact that we were able to concede on the offensive was much better than in the fall. We will benefit from that in the coming weeks.”
Admiral Bundesliga, 19th round
Sunday:
Hartberg – Admira 1: 1 (0: 1)
Hartberg, Profertil Arena, 1,685 spectators, SR Ebner
goal sequence:
0:1 Vodhanel (44.)
1:1 Heil (63.)
Hartberg: Faist – Farkas, Steinwender, Rotter, Klem – Sturm (85./Lemmerer), Kainz, Diarra (58./Tadic), Aydin (58./Niemann) – Avdijaj, Heil
Admire: Leitner – Zwierschitz (78th / Major), Schmiedl, Bauer, Lukacevic – Ebner, Malicsek – Surdanovic (78th / Gattermayer), Kerschbaum, Vodhanel – Mustapha
Yellow cards: Diarra, Farkas or Vodhanel, Kerschbaum
The best: Heil, Rotter, Faist or Mustapha, Vodhanel, Kerschbaum
