Happily, that would change just five minutes after the restart, and with Borac looking to begin on the front foot, LASK executed a perfect counter-attack; Žulj brought the ball down the center, he had Berisha in support who laid it out to the right for Stojković, and it came back into the middle for Berisha again who swept it home for 1-0. A lovely move!

Borac went on the hunt for an equaliser soon after, and Maxi Talovierov summed up the visitors’ disciplined defensive efforts by celebrating a clearance as if it was another goal for the Linzers, but the ten-men of LASK could not find a way to consistently keep the ball, and the shot count built ever-higher for the home team, although most of their 20 attempts were harmless or deflected away. The pressure would tell with eight minutes remaining though, and a cross towards the front post was met with a bullet-header from Despotović. Although Jungwirth got close, he couldn’t keep it out, and LASK would have to reset quickly to the equaliser.

On came Adil Taoui and Branko Jovičić to steady the ship, but Borac kept on pressing, and a minute before the end of normal time, substitute Skorup’s shot from the edge of the area got deflected past Jungwirth and into the LASK net to complete a late turnaround of the wrong kind. It was a gutting conclusion after a brave performance from the outnumbered away team, and there would ultimately be no points to bring back from Bosnia.

FK Borac Banja Luka - LASK 2:1 (0:0)
Gradski Stadium Banja Luka, Referee Correia/POR
Goals: 0:1 Berisha (51.), 1:1 Despotovic (82.), 2:1 Skorup (89.)
Yellow Cards: Vukcevic, Meijers, Despotovic; Talovierov, Flecker, Bello, Stojkovic, Jungwirth, Entrup
Red Card: Siebenhandl (9./Torraub)

Line-up LASK: Siebenhandl – Stojkovic, Ziereis, Smolcic, Bello – Talovierov, Bogarde (9. Jungwirth) – Flecker, Zulj (K/85. Jovicic), Berisha (74. Entrup) – Ljubicic (85. Taoui)

By Tom Middler from The Other Bundesliga (@OtherBundesliga)