Austria rescue late draw

Late penalty seals draw

Last updated: 12th June 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Austria rescue late draw

Austria celebrate their late equaliser

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Poland and Austria drew 1-1 in this Group B clash in Vienna to keep their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive.

The joint-hosts will rue spurning three gilt-edged chances in the opening 20 minutes which could have seen them home and dry.

Man-of-the-match Celtic keeper Artur Boruc twice denied Martin Harnik and also Christoph Leitgeb to keep his side in the game.

Roger Guerreiro then scored in the 30th minute against the run of play to give the Poles the lead.

Poland dominated the second-half but conceded an injury-time penalty for shirt-pulling which Ivica Vastic converted for a point.

Austria must now beat the Germans on Monday - and hope Croatia beat Poland - to qualify for the next stage.

Bright start

The Austrians started brightly with captain Andreas Ivanschitz having two shots at goal, one sailing harmlessly wide while his 30-yard free-kick did not pose a problem for Boruc.

However, Boruc had to be at his best in the 11th minute as a poor backpass by a Polish defender released Austria's Martin Harnik, who raced clear but his shot into the far corner was deflected by the Celtic shot-stopper for a corner.

Boruc did even better two minutes later as Umit Korkmaz put in a great pass into the penalty area but Harnik again had his shot saved by Boruc with his legs failing to add to his international haul of two goals.

The Polish guardian was again equal to the task a few minutes later as with the Poland defence in disarray Christoph Leitgeb ran onto a beautifully weighted pass but his shot was again saved by Boruc.

The Poles - looking nothing like a side that finished above Portugal in their qualifying group - took over 20 minutes to even force a corner and after repelling another Austrian attack they hit the co-hosts with a real sucker punch.

Marek Saganowski controlled the ball after a brilliant cross from Euzebiusz Smolarek inside the penalty area and managed to get his pass past the outstretched hand of Jurgen Macho and the boot of Austria's Middlesbrough defender Emmanuel Pogatetz, for Guerreiro to slot it into the net, though he looked to be offside.

The goal provoked a rueful smile from Austrian coach Josef Hickersberger and a shake of the head while his players heads went down.

Defensive reshuffle

Unsurprisingly, Poland's veteran Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker had seen enough of Mariusz Jop at centre-back and took him off at half-time as he tried to shore up his defence.

The Austrians thought they should have had a penalty in the 48th minute as Ivanschitz went down in the box under a challenge from Pawel Golanski but Webb waved aside the Austrian captain's appeals and it clearly looked as if he had dived.

Poland had a bit of wind in their sails and the impressive Smolarek surged onto a great ball by Guerreiro turned the defender and forced a bit of a fumbled save from Macho.

Macho was more alert in saving his side from going two down just after the hour mark as he got down smartly and blocked Polish captain Jacek Bak's shot with his legs, and got up to beat away a follow up shot by Mariusz Lewandowski.

Hickersberger decided to ring the changes at that point and somewhat surprisingly took off Ivanschitz and Roland Linz and sent on 38-year-old veteran Vastic and Roman Kienaast.

However, it was the Poles who had the next effort on goal with a fierce free-kick by Jacek Krzynowek, which was tipped over the bar brilliantly by Macho.

The Austrians rarely troubled the Polish defence or indeed the magisterial Boruc with just Sebastian Prodl - who is suspended for the next match with the Germans - getting anywhere near the target with a header 10 minutes from time that went past the post.

It took Vastic to break the Poles' hearts.

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