The WAC, which is four points ahead of Altach, sees the chance of a preliminary decision in the relegation battle on Friday. “We’re trying to take something with us, preferably a win, then we don’t have to turn around anymore,” said WAC trainer Manfred Schmid. So far, only Altach has managed such a 2-2 draw in the first duel of the season with an away 3-2.
In the Ländle, on the other hand, the sobering appearance against Ried was worked up. “The team did really well in training. Now we’re going to see if we can reap the rewards of this week,” said Schmidt, who welcomed back three of the most recently injured offensive players in Jurica Jurcec, Husein Balic and Csaba Bukta. “One or the other will be part of the squad,” revealed Schmidt. Schmidt, who has proven himself in the relegation battle, emphasized once again that his team has the quality to stay in the class. “But we always have to go over 105 percent to score points. If we want to win, we have to play 110 percent.”
The WAC (17 points) and Hartberg (14) are within reach for the Altacher (13). But also tail light Ried lurks only two points behind. “If we manage to score more points than the WAC in this doubles, then we will also put the WAC in the draw. That would be the big goal, that the four of us snap it up – and not just two or three,” said Schmidt.
Qualifying group, 27th round
Friday, 7.30 p.m.:
Altach-WAC
Altach, Cashpoint Arena, 7.30 p.m., SR Weinberger
Possible lineups:
Altach: Casali – Strauss, L. Gugganig, Edokpolor, Herold – Jäger, Aigner – Thurnwald, Bishop, Jan Jurcec – Nuhiu
WAC: Bonmann – Jasic, Baumgartner, Piesinger, Scherzer – Veratschnig, Kerschbaumer, Omic, Taferner – Baribo, Malone
“Unpredictable Team”
The WAC only travels by plane on the day of the match for a “difficult away game against an unpredictable team”, as coach Schmid explained. The former Austria coach classified the 2: 2 in Hartberg after a 0: 2 deficit as a moral top performance. “But we have to be even more concentrated in certain situations and improve our duel behavior.”
Because the race to catch up was successful after a system change, the coach is considering maintaining the four-man defense chain. “But I’ll leave that open, we discussed the three-man and four-man chains this week. I already have an idea in mind, but the team will only find out before the game.” With the exception of defender Kevin Bukusu (hamstring injury), everyone is fit.
WAC wants to use match points
The Viennese, who has been working in Lavanttal since March, is satisfied with his performances in the qualifying group. “Seven points are really good, we’ve increased the gap down and thus created a great starting point for the last few games.” Match balls are ready to say goodbye to the relegation battle early on. “If we win twice, then nothing will happen,” Schmid looked confidently ahead, but emphasized: “But that will be difficult enough.”