LASK vs. Rapid 4:2

After two months off, football was back on everbodies lips. Rapid kicked off the back end of the season with a trip to Upper Austria to take on Linz. Keeper Raimund Hedl made his 100th Bundesliga appearance, while in attack Gartler and Salihi were paired together for the first time since the 4 - 0 Hanappi mauling of Mattersburg in the 12th round.

The Green-Whites took to the field looking to dictate the pace from the off, manufacturing the first clear opportunity of the game in the 9th minute. It was the hosts however, somewhat against the run of play, who broke the deadlock. Metz fired home from the edge of the area in the 18th minute for the men in Black and White. Only minutes later Panis took advantage of Ragnvald Soma's failure to clear his lines and doubled the hosts advantage with a sharp effort.

Steffen Hofmann then took the bull by the horns and tried to wrestle the initiative back for Rapid, his 35th minute effort stinging the hands of Macho in the Linzer goal. Despite long periods of possesion, the Hütteldorfers struggled to find the killer pass and went back to the half time dressing room two goals adrift.

Pacult's men emerged for the second period showing no changes to the line up. Two minutes after the re-start a smart Pehlivan effort signalled Rapids intentions to claw their way back into contention. With Captain Steffen Hofmann pulling the strings, Rapid began to overpower their hosts and threaten the Linz goal. When a goal did finally arrive it incredibly went the way of the hosts, chief tormentor Panis snatching his second in the 52nd minute totally against the run of play. Linz barely had time to celebrate their goal though as just two minutes later Hofmann pulled Rapid back into the game. 3-1 and still 40 minutes to play. Rene Gartler (picture) latched onto an Andi Dober cross and was unlucky not to further reduce the arrears, Macho in the home goal performing heroics to keep out the youngster's goal bound header.

Pacult rang the changes as he tried to force the issue, introducing Trimmel, Drazan and Konrad in place of Pehlivan, Salihi and Gartler. The freshly introduced Konrad latched onto a great ball from Trimmel but could only force a corner in the 75th minute. With Rapid throwing men forwards in search of the breakthrough the homeside countered and dealt the killer blow. Saurer unleashed a fierce 25 yard drive that was to hot to handle for Hedl in the Rapid goal to seal the victory for the hosts. Steffen Hofmann converted a late penalty following a foul on Veli Kavlak but it proved to be no more than a consolation.

20th round:

LASK - SK Rapid 4:2 (2:0)
Linzer Stadion, 9.400 Zuschauer, SR Gangl

Tore: Metz (18.), Panis (25., 52.), Saurer (78.) bzw. Hofmann (54., 92./Elfer)

LASK: Macho - Alunderis, Margreitter, Chinchilla-Vega, Prettenthaler - Metz, Aufhauser (46./Weissenberger, 79./Zakany), Saurer, Majabvi, Panis - Skuletic (64./Vujic);

SK Rapid: Hedl - Dober, Soma, Patocka, Katzer - Hofmann, Heikkinen, Pehlivan (58./Drazan), Kavlak - Gartler (70./Konrad), Salihi (58./Trimmel);

(gw)