Altach has shaken off its initial worries. In the third round of the Bundesliga, the Vorarlberg team celebrated their second win in a row on Sunday with a 2-0 (1-0) win over WAC and moved up to fourth place in the table. Man of the match was once again Gustavo Santos with a brace (24th, 51st). The Brazilian also scored in his third league game in a row and has now scored five goals.
Altach coach Joachim Standfest, who was already a little under the weather after the cup exit and the opening defeat against WSG Tirol, is back in the saddle after the club’s best BL start in six years, while WAC is on the decline. Coach Dietmar Kühbauer’s brilliant 4-1 comeback was followed by two defeats. The Carinthians are eighth in the table.
Altach sent out its winning team from the 2:1 win at LASK, while Kühbauer decided to make five changes to WAC. Cheick Diabate replaced the suspended defensive leader Nicolas Wimmer, and Nikolas Polster, who Kühbauer described as “equal”, replaced Lukas Gütlbauer in goal in his first ever Bundesliga appearance. And ex-Rapid player Maximilian Ullmann, who was brought in from Venezia, made his WAC debut on the left defensive side.
The fans were initially given a feeling-out phase with WAC having a slight advantage and without seeing any real chances. But then Altach came back and pushed for the lead. Oliver Strunz was first stopped by Polster (20th minute), two minutes later the 22-year-old goalkeeper shone again, throwing himself into the goal of Vesel Demaku, who had luckily scored (22nd minute). Two minutes later, the moment had come: Santos put the pass from the completely unchallenged Sandro Ingolitsch into the goal from a few meters.
The guests’ efforts in the heavy rain against the solid Altach defense were in vain and they didn’t manage a single shot on goal before the break. Things didn’t get any better after the break, quite the opposite. A completely failed throw-in initiated an Altach attack, then Diabate served the ball to the opponent, Santos got to the ball again and made it 2-0.
The “Wolves” became at least a little more dangerous as a result. The “lock” was broken once, but Dejan Zukic only hit the side netting (62nd minute). However, WAC was unable to make any real impact in the finish after bringing on fresh attackers Thomas Sabitzer and Angelo Gattermayer. For the first time this season, Altach kept a clean sheet, securing its first home win since December 5th of last year.
More about the game Altach – WAC
