Thriller in Amstetten

LIVESTREAM: Defending champions WAC at Amstetten

The WAC celebrate after a show of strength in Amstetten.(Bild: GEPA)

What a heroic comeback! Wolfsberger AC came from 2-0 down to beat second-division side Amstetten 3-2 after extra time in the round of 16. The Carinthians can therefore continue to dream of defending their title.

WAC were in trouble for a long time in front of 1720 spectators in Amstetten. After a cross from Thomas Mayer, Alieu Conateh headed the ball into the dangerous area. David Peham finished there to give the home side the lead (27'). Felix Köchl tested Lukas Gütlbauer, the Wolfsburg cup goalkeeper, from long range. WAC failed to clear the ball from the subsequent corner kick. The ball bounced off Nicolas Wimmer's heel and into the legs of Philipp Offenthaler, who finished from close range (35').

WAC come back
Wolfsberg reduced the deficit just before the break. After a cross by Boris Matic from the baseline, top scorer Dejan Zukic nodded in his third goal in the third game under Peter Pacult (45.+1). After the break, Wimmer crossed from the left and substitute Angelo Gattermayer, scorer of the golden goal in the cup final against Hartberg (1-0) at the beginning of May and still involved in Amstetten in the spring of 2024, again headed home to make it 2:2 (59'). Another Gattermayer header was brilliantly saved by SKU goalkeeper Tiago Estevao (72').

(Bild: GEPA)

  Amstetten's Niklas Pertlwieser was shown two yellow cards for criticizing his former club in the space of a few seconds at the end of normal time, resulting in a red card (88'). However, the team fourth in the 2nd division kept the game open against the Bundesliga side in extra time. The supposed WAC lead through Matic was disallowed for offside (93').

Gattermayer missed another great chance from an offside position, with Kojzek another "joker" making the difference. The 19-year-old scored from a turn into the far corner after a pass from Donis Avdijaj. This was WAC's second success in a row under Pacult after their 3-1 win in the league against champions Sturm Graz on Sunday. Amstetten conceded only their second defeat in their 14th competitive match of the season. The WAC had already beaten the Lower Austrians in the cup round of 16 in December 2020 (2:0).

Final score:
SKU Amstetten - Wolfsberger AC 2:3 n.V. (2:2, 2:1)
Goals: Peham (27.), Offenthaler (35.) and Zukic (45.+1), Gattermayer (59.), Kojzek (115.)
Yellow-Red: Pertlwieser (88./A)