SV Horn defeated GAK at the spring start of the 2nd soccer league and fended off Graz’s attack on the front seats. The Waldviertel team won an entertaining game 2-1 (0-0) on Friday and thus moved up to first place for the time being. There were successes in mid-table for Lafnitz with a 2:1 (0:0) at Admira and for Liefering with a 2:0 (0:0) at Vienna. Rapid II beat FAC 1-0 (0-0).
The fourth-placed GAK left no stone unturned during the winter break and, above all, strengthened the offensive. The German Lenn Jastremski was loaned out by Bayern Munich, while the Ukrainian Bohdan Viunnyk, who was initially on the bench, was loaned out by FC Zurich. In Horn, however, the home side initially determined what was happening and might have done well in the first half. Okan Yilmaz hit the bar with the best chance following half an hour.
The “Red Jackets” came out of the dressing room improved, and Horner deservedly took the lead. Yilmaz (61′) scored with a sweep following Jakob Meierhofer deflected a shot to the post. GAK trainer Gernot Messner then brought in fresh strikers in Viunnyk and David Peham. However, Horn scored the next goal through Patrik Mijic, who also came on as a substitute (72′). At the end there was tension and hectic once more. After a penalty whistle for Graz, Michael Liendl stepped up and failed at Horn’s Matteo Hotop. Thomas Schiestl (84th) was successful in the margin. But that was all the GAK might do.
Admira was game-determining in a chaotic game in the southern part of the city, but was hardly able to put herself in a dangerous position. A deflected cross from Leonardo Lukacevic posed the greatest danger for the Styrians, who initially defended the 0-0 lead. The Lafnitzer struck a little more than 20 minutes before the end from their first shot on goal. Jurica Poldrugac (69th) extended a cross from the right with feeling into the Kreuzeck. The Croatian didn’t have enough. He hammered a long-range free kick into the net (78′). Poldrugac has now scored eight goals in the last five rounds. Stephan Zwierschitz’s (95th) header came too late for Admira.
Liefering determined the tempo of the game at Vienna, Andreas Lukse in the goal of Vienna not only had to intervene once to save. Although the Döblinger tried hard, they were punished twice in the end. Kerim Abazovic saw yellow cards twice within a few minutes and had to leave the field (72′), Raphael Hofer (73′) used the free kick that followed without fail. The final decision came in added time by Federico Crescenti (95′).
In a small Viennese derby, Rapid’s youngsters developed advantages once morest the Floridsdorfers as the game progressed, but acted too harmlessly in the attacking third. FAC player Paolino Bertaccini therefore had the best opportunity in the first half of the game, and he was denied by Laurenz Orgler in the Rapid goal. Both teams had good chances in the second half. FAC hit the bar in the finish before a whistle sounded deep in injury time. Referee Christopher Jäger recognized a handball by Floridsdorfer in the penalty area, Pascal Fallmann (94th) converted the penalty safely.
