Noah Okafor (17th) and Junior Adamu (42nd) put Salzburg on the road to victory with their seventh goal of the season. Maurice Malone (75th) ensured an exciting final phase in the Lavanttal Arena. This means that coach Robin Dutt’s team remains in the bottom of the table despite a brave performance, the targeted championship group is moving further into the distance with seven games still to come.
Dutt, whose team has always conceded at least one goal in the past 25 league games, initially did without the two veterans Mario Leitgeb and Konstantin Kerschbaumer after the 4-1 loss at LASK. Jaissle made two changes to his starting XI compared to 4-0 at AC Milan on Wednesday. Like Lucas Gourna-Douath, Oumar Solet had to take a break. Bernardo moved into the team in central defence, and Benjamin Sesko was allowed to attack again from the start.
Salzburg scores before the break
It took 80 seconds for Salzburg to have their first big chance. After a Seiwald corner, Bernardo’s volley from five meters landed on the crossbar, and the Brazilian headed the rebound again against the aluminum. But the WAC wasn’t shocked and kept up well with the guests in the first quarter of an hour. But then the quality of the Jaissle-Elf showed itself again: Luka Sucic leveraged the entire WAC defense with a fantastic outside instep pass, Okafor completed an untenable shot into the short cross corner after receiving the ball perfectly.
Nikolas Veratschnig repeatedly caused danger in the Salzburg defense for WAC, but the Carinthians were initially unable to create any major chances. During a small phase of pressure from the WAC, the master struck again just before the break. After a quick counterattack by Maurits Kjaergaard, Sesko hit the bar and Adamu’s rebound couldn’t be scratched off the line by Raphael Schifferl. Previously, an offside goal by Sesko (37th) rightly didn’t count.
WAC hit creates excitement
After the change of sides, the WAC showed a committed performance. Augustine Boakye forced Salzburg goalie Philipp Köhn to make a save (56′), a header from Thai Baribo (63′) was too weak. At the other end, Sesko (57′, 70′) and Bernardo (58′) had good chances. WAC goalie Hendrik Bonmann also kept his team in the game against Sekou Koita (74′).
His offensive thanked him, “Joker” Thorsten Röcher served Malone with a nice lob, the striker coldly shortened with his fourth goal of the season. Shortly thereafter, referee Julian Weinberger took back a hand penalty against Salzburg after VAR intervention. Salzburg didn’t allow much in the closing stages, only a shot from Kerschbaumer went just over the goal (88′).
Bundesliga, 15th round
Saturday:
WAC – Salzburg 1:2 (0:2)
Wolfsberg, Lavanttal Arena, SR Weinberger
Torfolge:
0:1 Okafor (17.)
0:2 Adamu (42.)
1:2 Malone (75.)
WAC: Bonmann – Veratschnig, Baumgartner, Schifferl, Novak (84./Ballo), Anzolin – Taferner (72./Kerschbaumer), Omic (90./D. Gugganig), Boakye – Malone, Baribo (72./Röcher)
Salzburg: Köhn – Dedic, Bernardo, Pavlovic, Wöber – Seiwald – Sucic, Kjaergaard – Adamu – Sesko (86./Simic), Okafor (68./Koita)
Yellow Cards: None
The best: Veratschnig, Malone or Okafor, Bernardo, Sucic
