Mattersburg fightback floors Salzburg
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Article summary
SV Mattersburg reached the Austrian Cup final for the second successive season as they recovered from two goals down to defeat favourites FC Salzburg.
Article body
Blistering start
Giovanni Trapattoni's Salzburg side were quickly into their stride in front of 7,500 spectators and took the lead through Austrian international midfielder Rene Aufhauser in the 15th minute. When German defender Markus Steinhöfer, who scored an own goal in the league game against Mattersburg last month, doubled that advantage eleven minutes later, Salzburg looked on course to reach the final for the fifth time, yet Mattersburg, defeated 3-0 by FK Austria Wien in last year's showpiece, had other ideas.
Late turnaround
Franz Lederer's team lie second in the Austrian top flight, albeit 14 points behind Salzburg, and gradually worked their way back into the contest when pulling a goal back through Hungarian defender Csaba Csizmadia with 20 minutes left. Another international, striker Ilco Naumoski of F.Y.R. Macedonia, quickly levelled and took the game into 30 additional minutes, before scoring again ten minutes into extra time to book Mattersburg's place in the 1 May final. There they will meet either Austria Wien again or Salzburg's reserve side, who will look to go one better than their seniors on Wednesday night.