Rapid seal final day victory

Peter Pacult fielded a 4-4-2 formation for the must win trip to Burgenland. Salihi again partnered Jelavic up front to offer the necessary cutting thrust to claim the all important victory.

Rapid got off to a fluent start and were rewarded in the 17th minute as Salihi put the visitors 1:0 up. Hofmann slid in Jelavic down the right wing and the Rapid striker played in a cross that biscected the Mattersburg defence perfectly, finding Salihi in plenty of space. The Albanian forward opened his account for the afternoon with a header that found its way into the net via the post. About 80% of the Pappel Stadium errupted, the travelling Green White masses far outweighing the home fans in yet another incredible display of support.

Unfortunately the news coming in from around the grounds was not what we wanted to hear. Salzburg had raced into a two goal lead in Graz, effectively sealing the Bundesliga title and taking the potential potency out of the afternoon.

The second half kicked off with Rapid still in the race for second spot in the table due to Austria being held at home by Ried. A double blow was struck in quick time however as first a Dominik Doleschal effort levelled things up for Mattersburg and then news filtered through from the Horr Stadium that Ausrtia were leading in Favoriten.

It was always probable the results wouldn't transpire in Rapid's favour, the Green Whites leaving themselves a bit too much to do in the title race. There was still the matter of the three points in Burgenland however, with personal pride and sending the Rapid faithful home happy high on the agenda.

Pacult's side restored their advantage in the 68th minute after a long period of domination through man of the moment Hamdi Salihi. The striker poked home from close range, grabbing his second of the afternoon, after a Steffen Hofmann free kick had caused chaos in the Mattersburg 6 yard box.

Rapid confirmed the victory with eight minutes remaining. Stefan Kulovits raided down the right flank and put an excellent cross into the box. Salihi showed quicker reactions than his marker and rose to guide a header past the stranded Bliem in goal to seal the victory and bag a hattrick at the same time.

It was to be the final Rapid goal of the season as the game finished with the score at 3:1, bringing down the curtain on a long hard season packed full of highlights and memorable moments - many in the excellent pre christmas adventure in the Europa League. The Green Whites did scoop a gong however. Influential skipper Steffen Hofmann became the first midfielder in the Austrian Bundesliga to win the Top Scorer award. The diminutive maestro bagged a staggering 20 goals in the league this season and ran out clear top scorer.

Hofmann and his team mates can now look forward to a well deserved break before hostilities resume later in the summer.

36th round:

SV Mattersburg - SK Rapid Wien 1:3 (0:1)
Pappelstadion, 13.400, Referee Drachta

Goals: 0:1 (17.) Salihi, 1:1 (53.) Doleschal, 1:2 (68.) Salihi, 1:3 (82.) Salihi

Mattersburg: Bliem - Höller, Malic, Chrappan, Rath - Doleschal (65. Spuller), Farkas, Seidl, Mörz - Naumoski (59. Wagner/92. Gartner), Lindner

SK Rapid: Hedl - Kulovits, Soma, Patocka, Thonhofer (87. Trimmel) - Hofmann, Pehlivan, Boskovic, Drazan (46. Konrad) - Jelavic, Salihi (83. Gartler)

Yellow Cards: Malic, Chrappan, Naumoski, Doleschal; Jelavic, Pehlivan, Soma

(gw)