Draw against Hartberg
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FC Red Bull Salzburg missed the chance to extend its lead in the Bundesliga on Sunday. The Mozartstadt team could not manage more than a goalless draw against Hartberg.
In the home debut of new Salzburg coach Daniel Beichler, the Bundesliga leaders could only manage a 0-0 draw. The "Bulls" were overwhelmingly superior against a deep-lying TSV Hartberg on Sunday, but found few gaps against coach Manfred Schmid's perfectly organized defensive wall. Hartberg's chances of finishing in the top six after the league is split are looking good ahead of the 22nd round.
The East Styrians are in fifth place in the table and have a three-point lead over seventh-placed SCR Altach. Next weekend, Hartberg can seal the deal in their home game against bottom-of-the-table Blau-Weiß Linz. Salzburg will be away to Rapid Vienna in a week's time, but before that they have the ÖFB Cup semi-final against Altach on Wednesday.
One-way soccer without success
Salzburg took control at home from the start and kept the ball moving nicely at times. The league leaders were without Sota Kitano and Stefan Lainer due to injury, with Moussa Yeo and Tim Trummer taking their places. Hartberg had to do without captain Jürgen Heil for personal reasons, who was replaced by Luca Pazourek. Whenever the "Bulls" picked up the pace, it became dangerous for Hartberg. In the 5th minute, Karim Konaté waited in the middle but missed a Krätzig-Stangl pass. Yeo (7th) shot just wide of the goal. Then it took ten minutes before Hartberg goalkeeper Tom Ritzy Hülsmann just managed to fish a Konaté header out of the lower right corner.
After that, the flow of the game slowed down somewhat. Salzburg showed little in the way of offense until the half-time whistle, while the visitors were virtually invisible – until the last action: First, a deflected Diabaté shot landed next to the goal, then after the resulting corner, Salzburg keeper Alexander Schlager, who was standing well off his line, was almost caught out by Benjamin Markus, who was positioned on the center circle. However, to the relief of the home side, Markus' ball flew high over Schlager and over the bar.
A first for Hartberg
Salzburg had already had to make their first substitution in the 35th minute, as winter signing Tim Drexler was injured. Anrie Chase made his debut. The second half also began with the Cathedral City team dominating, once again playing with more vigor in attack. But the Styrians were now playing courageously too: out of nowhere, a low shot from Pazourek (60') from just outside the box hit the post. At that point, the statistics showed Salzburg had almost 80 percent possession, but they were still lacking in clear-cut chances. Hartberg stood like a wall at the back, and even long-range shots were always blocked by a leg or other body part. It was the club's first point in Salzburg in its Bundesliga history.
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