NEWS
Five Goals, Two Sendings-Off! Blau-Weiß Stays Top
The Upper Austrians overturn a 0-1 deficit and ultimately win comfortably 4-1 – Liefering once again fails to finish a match with eleven men.
Blau-Weiß Linz remains at the top of the ADMIRAL 2. Liga table even after the ninth round: The Steel City residents secure a clear 4-1 victory against FC Liefering – the visitors once again fail to finish a match with a full squad.
Both teams started with high intensity, with the hosts creating more chances – Dario Kreiker had the first good opportunity for Blau-Weiß (12.).
However, the goal came at the other end: Ilia Ivanschitz delivered a superb pass to Lassina Traore, who beat David Riegler and scored to give Liefering the lead (26.).
Slapstick Moment Leads to Blau-Weiß Equalizer
However, the Upper Austrians remained unfazed: Riegler and Manuel Maranda created danger with headers from set-pieces, while a shot from Romeo Vucic was blocked by Jakob Pokorny in the nick of time (36.).
Seconds later, Linz equalized with a slapstick goal. Goalkeeper Nikola Sarcevic hit Pokorny with the ball, Vucic accepted the gift and netted a deserved 1-1 (37.).
Shortly before half-time, the home side celebrated what they thought was the go-ahead goal when Erik Weinhauer scored – but provider Filip Ristanic had been offside earlier (45.).
Ronivaldo Puts Blau-Weiß on the Road to Victory
After the break, the tempo remained high, but neither team created any real goal-scoring chances in the opening minutes.
After an hour, however, the match picked up pace again, with the hosts turning the game around: Ronivaldo flicked on a long clearance from BW keeper Christopher Giuliani to Vucic, who then laid it off to his recently substituted strike partner – the 37-year-old coolly slotted home to make it 2-1 (60.).
Liefering were more dangerous from set-pieces in the second half: Nico Masching, however, only headed an Ivanschitz corner against the crossbar (68.).
Mayer Decides the Match - Liefering Finish Game with Nine Men
Shortly thereafter, the visitors once again undermined themselves: Dovas Grundzinskas, who had been substituted in just over an hour earlier, received a yellow card (69.) and then a yellow-red card (70.) within a minute.
Playing with a man down, the Salzburg side collapsed: Jonas Mayer then sealed the victory shortly after with a cross from Dominik Frieser (75.).
Just five minutes later, Traore was also sent off with a straight red card for a crude tackle on Alem Pasic (81.).
With two men more, the hosts had several chances for an even bigger victory, with Fabio Strauss securing the 4-1 final score in stoppage time (90.+4).
