The WAC is currently second in the qualifying group behind Wiener Austria and is six points ahead of third place Altach. “We have made it very clear that we want to overtake one of the two teams in front of us by the end of the season. That’s why we can only go to Wolfsberg with the goal of winning there,” said Altach coach Joachim Standfest.
And that despite the fact that the last victory to date was a long time ago. In the Vorarlberg derby on December 5th, the Schnabelholz team celebrated a 3-0 win against Austria Lustenau.
Schedule and table
Bundesliga, 24th round
Saturday, 5 p.m.:
WAC – Altach
Wolfsberg, Lavanttal-Arena, SR Barmaksiz
Possible lineups:
WAC: Gutlbauer – Diabate, Omic, Baumgartner – Veratschnig, Altunashvili, Tijani, Jasic – Boakye, Zimmermann, Ballo
Altach: Stojanovic – Ingolitsch, Reiner, Koller, Edokpolor – Demaku, Jäger, Bähre – Gebauer, Santos, Fadinger
Altach coach Standfest banished to the stands
“I think we can go into the final laps with a very good feeling. The performances in the regular season and also in the game against Austria were very appealing,” said Standfest. However, the Styrian has a red card as a souvenir from the 1-1 draw against the Violets, which now largely forces him to do nothing.
The team is only allowed to coach in the locker room until half an hour before the start of the match. “They’ll have a place for me in the stands somewhere,” he said with a smile. His anger at the referee has now faded away.
WAC wants to “show a different face”
The WAC recently got two 1-1 draws in a row, one of which came in Wolfsberg against Altach not quite three weeks ago. Before that there was a 0-0 draw in Altach in October. It wasn’t enough to win against WSG Tirol before the international break either. “The boys were very self-critical and dissatisfied after the game. I really liked that and shows that they are hungry,” said WAC coach Manfred Schmid. “We want to show a different face now than in the last two games. We can do better, but we also have to show it.”
In addition to Standfest, defender Lukas Gugganig is also suspended from Altach. After his international match debut for Burkina Faso, Mohamed Ouedraogo will have to wait and see how he copes with the strain of travel. The team drove to Wolfsberg on Maundy Thursday to avoid travel on Good Friday. “It’s not pleasant to sit on a bus for nine or nine and a half hours, then you lie down and then you have to perform the next day,” said Standfest.
