Red Bulls storm clear at the top with fourth away win

Tipp3-Bundesliga, powered by T-Mobile, Round 20.
SV Mattersburg 2-4 Red Bull Salzburg (H/T: 2-1). Goals: Atan (2), Naumoski (22 pen); Janko (9, 62), Pitak (50), Nelisse (90)

Red Bull Salzburg today won 4-2 at SV Mattersburg in the 20th match of the Tipp3-Bundesliga to hold onto their league lead and move three points ahead of Rapid Vienna!

The Red Bulls´ fourth away win of the seaons did not come easy. The visitors were able to come back after trailing 1-2 at half-time, thanks in no small part to enjoying a numerical advantage after the dismissal of Naumoski.

Red Bull Salzburg made two changes today with Tchoyi replacing the injured Jezek on the left wing and Boussaidi starting ahead of Nelisse. The line-up: Ochs; Bodnar, Sekagya, Meyer, Opdam; Boussaidi, Pitak, Leitgeb, Tchoyi; Zickler, Janko.

Mattersburg take the lead within the first two minutes! Salzburg are slow to react to a Mattersburg counter attack, gifting the hosts the space to freely distribute the ball amongst their ranks towards Atan, who takes aim and finds the target from the inside right. 1-0 after two minutes!

With an early lead for the hosts, the match kicks off in exactly the same way as the last time Salzburg played in Mattersburg nine weeks ago (a match the away team were to win).

5 minutes: Bodnar goes through on the right and cracks a powerful shot on goal which is eventually collect by the somewhat troubled Bliem in the home goal! 8 minutes: The home side string together another dangerous attack. Four Mattersburg attackers weave their way past two Salzburg defenders but Mörz´s shot cannot beat Timo Ochs.

9 minutes: The equaliser for Red Bull Salzburg! A great Tchoyi cross into the penalty area is misjudged by Bliem while Malic´s loose marking on Janko is unable to stop the Austrian striker completing his 28th strike of the season! 1-1! 14 minutes: Mattersburg are lucky not to concede again! Zickler gets the chance to shoot from inside the penalty area and after the ball is deflected by Sedloski it smashes into the post and rolls across the goal line. Janko seeks to turn the ball over and is impeded illegally by Atan but no penalty is given!

With twenty minutes played in the Pappelstadion, the Red Bulls are pushing forward and looking to take the lead with only Meyer and Sekagya constantly keeping defensive guard. 61 per cent of possession is a sign of their tenaciousness!

21 minutes: Penalty to Mattersburg! The referee points to the spot after Meyer and Jancker tangle in the area – a dubious decision as the veteran German striker looked to be the guilty party! Naumoski steps up and converts the spot kick confidently to make it 2-1 to Mattersburg (22).

Salzburg’s composure is not disturbed by the disappointment of conceding and they continue to attack with confidence and pen the hosts back into their own half. 29 minutes: A long ball flies into the Mattersburg penalty area and is brought down towards Janko, who smashes a shot just wide of the right post with his left foot.

A superb move between Leitgeb and Pitak culminates in the Czech midfielder being denied by a fantastic footed Bliem save! (32 mins)

37 minutes: Mattersburg are reduced to ten men with Naumoski getting a second yellow card for a dive in the penalty area!

At the end of the first half Mattersburg lead 2-1, leaving the Red Bulls with 45 minutes to turn the match around!

RBS Sporting Director Heinz Hochhauser at half time: “It’s never pleasing to be behind at half time. The referee has been decisive so far, however. The penalty against us was a poor decision along with the sending off of Naumoski. Our main problem is that we concede too many goals. Mattersburg scored twice with two shots on goal and lead as a result. We now need to raise the pressure.”

The second half begins with the Bulls looking to utilise their numerical advantage . . .

Salzburg storm forward in the opening few minutes of the second period and are soon rewarded:

50 minutes: The equaliser comes for Red Bull Salzburg! A long ball from Opdam to Pitak is hit towards goal with a mighty volley and soars under the crossbar to make it 2-2! Pitak’s third goal of the season is one to savour!

Mattersburg have a chance to get back into the lead with Wagner bearing down on Ochs, but the Salzburg goalkeeper is quicker to the ball (53).

56 minutes: The Bulls make their first change as Vonlanthen replaces Tchoyi.

Vonlanthen finds Leitgeb, who shoots just over from 20 yards (58 mins).

60 minutes: Vonlanthen is brought down by Mravac just inside of the penalty area but the referee sees things differently and awards the Red Bulls a free kick from just outside the box.

62 minutes: 3-2 to Red Bull Salzburg! Bodnar receives the ball and moves inside before firing a shot on goal – Janko reacts with his killer instinct to race onto the ball and turn it into the net for his 29th goal of a dream season!

The Bulls have taken every possible advantage from their one man surplus. The ball is zipping between Salzburg players with some intelligent movement creating plenty of chances for the away side.

79 minutes: Salzburg make their second substitution as Zickler is replaced by Nelisse.

88 minutes: The Bulls make their third switch with Mahop coming on for Janko.

90 minutes: That’s the decider! An inch-perfect Leitgeb pass plays Nelisse through on goal. The Dutch striker slams the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 4-2 to Red Bull Salzburg!

The match finishes soon afterwards with Red Bull Salzburg taking a deserved 4-2 win that keeps them at the top of the table!

Co Adriaanse: “My team played well on the whole and I’m very pleased. Unfortunately the referee influenced the course of the game with some dubious decisions. That was a really important win for us today.”

Rémo Meyer: “The way I saw it that was definitely no penalty but a foul on me. Mattersburg were dangerous on the counter attack at the start and caused us some real problems. We kept our composure when going behind though and continued to get more and more into the game until we deservedly won.”