The Rieders lose air in the qualifying group, against the crisis club Hartberg, the Austrian Hautes can only manage a 0-0.
SV Ried had to settle for a goalless draw with TSV Hartberg but still maintained their lead in the Bundesliga qualifying group on Saturday. Against East Styria, coach Robert Ibertsberger’s team couldn’t take their breath away from their Upper Austria derby win against LASK (2-0) seven days earlier. As the people of Linz couldn’t get beyond the 1-1 draw with Admira in the 26th round, Ried remains in the lead with 18 points.
The Hartbergers are ten matches without a win and have been waiting for a goal for almost 657 minutes into the championship. Just before the end, in front of 4,010 spectators at the josko Arena, Rieder Stefan Nutz was shown the red card (87th) for a tough foul on Thomas Rotter after referee Daniel Pfister looked back at the video footage. The Hartbergers around coach Klaus Schmidt are in fifth place with 14 points, Schmidt still waits after the fourth game on the sidelines of Styria for release.
Schmidt made several changes before the game, benching top scorer Dario Tadic and initially relied on a 5-3-2 defensive system. After an initial passive phase on both sides, the guests from East Styria became increasingly courageous. Schmidt’s team realized that they finally wanted to break the lock on the gate. TSV forward Jürgen Lemmerer had a great chance to score, but his shot from ten meters was saved by Ried’s goalkeeper Samuel Sahin-Radlinger (19′).
Shortly afterwards, an alleged foul by Julian Wießmeier on his former teammate Seth Paintsil, who had moved from Ried to Hartberg on a free transfer in the summer, caused a stir. Paintsil would have gone for Rieder’s goal alone, but Pfister allowed the game to continue (21′). For his part, Rieder found two good opportunities: first, Ante Bajic hit the outside post with a long-range shot (29′), then Leo Mikic squandered the biggest opportunity just before the break. The winger from Upper Austria hit a cross with his chest completely loose, but missed five meters from the strong Swete (44th).
Innviertler started much better in the second round. When Philipp Pomer took a shot, Tobias Kainz had to head clean just before the line (51′). Bajic (63rd) and Nutz (69th) with a direct free-kick were also unlucky. The gaming association took over, Hartberg just defended. Nene also failed in a brilliant position at Swete (77th).
After Nutz was ejected, Hartberg cheered for the lucky punch. In added time, Kainz had a big chance, but he didn’t put enough pressure and precision behind the ball.