With Salzburg and Austria Vienna both dropping unexpected home points, the game in the Steiermark against Kapfenberg represented an excellent opportunity to hit back in the title race for the Hütteldorfers. Markus Heikinnen missed out through illness, replaced by Stefan Kulovits in the Rapid engine room. After an opening flurry of corners for Rapid, the first half settled into a low tempo affair, with goal scoring opportunities at a premium. It was the home side that fashioned the best chances, notably in the 38th minute when the lively Marek Heinz stooped to head the ball inches wide of the upright with Payer well beaten. It was the only noteworthy effort of a laboured first half which failed to spark. Rapid's best moments included drives from Kavlak and Dober, neither of which hit the target. The teams emerged for the second half both looking to improve on a below par first forty five. Ragnvald Soma was alert in the 51st minute, cutting out a dangerous low cross from the left, while two minutes later Veli Kavlak tried to inject some life into Rapid's attacking play, his thrusting run and powerful shot just off the mark. It was the home side who managed break the deadlock in the 56th minute. Andi Dober was harshly penalised for an innocous looking challenge on the left side of the penalty box. While most players crowded the goal mouth, Marek Heinz intelligently dropped back to the penalty spot to recieve Siegl's free kick and from 12 yards he drilled the ball into the roof of the net giving Payer absolutely no chance. The goal served as the wake up call Rapid needed. Pacult sent on Boskovic and Konrad in place of Gartler and Kulovits and the Green-Whites finally began to raise the tempo. Barely 10 minutes after falling behind Rapid levelled things up. The industrious Kavlak hit a rasping effort from the edge of the box that Wolf in the Kapfenberg goal just managed to beat away. The rebound was gathered by the touchline by Captain Steffen Hofmann. He delicately floated the ball to the back post where the lurking Markus Katzer guided his header beyond the diving Keeper. Christopher Drazan replaced the tried Veli Kavlak, his exploits for Austria in midweek finally catching up with him, as Pacult looked to turn the screw. Substitute Mario Konrad displayed good close control with his back to goal before swivelling and firing a powerful shot just over in the 74th minute. Five minutes later the newly introduced Drazan got involved, spearing heading a Rapid counter down the left flank. His expert low cut back tee'd up Steffen Hofmann who, uncharacteristically, couldn't control his effort as it blazed over the bar. With only three minutes to play Rapid fashioned what would surely be a decisive lead. A short corner looked to have broken down but was just kept alive. The ball found its way to Yasin Pehlivan who put an excellent ball low across the 6 yard box in the corridor of uncertainty between keeper and defence. Mario Konrad reacted quickest and made no mistake, thumping the ball home from two yards to send the travelling fans wild.Rapid appeared to be in control, playing down the clock before disastor struck. Kapfenberg somehow emerged from a melee on the right hand touchline the ball. The Rapid defence was all at sea, totally sucked across to the right hand side of the pitch leaving themselves shockingly exposed. Milan Fukal charged down the wing and delivered the ball into the Rapid penalty area. A rush of blood from Helge Payer saw the Rapid goalkeeper charge of his line, miss the ball but take a large chunk of Markus Katzer. The ball fell to an unattended Markus Felfernig who couldn't believe his luck slotting into an empty net to salvage a late, late point for the lowly hosts that had looked completely beyond them only a minute earlier.It was an incredibly disappointing way to surrender two valuable points. However, next week provides the perfect opportunity to put everything right as Austria visit the Hannapi for the Vienna derby.Kapfenberg - SK Rapid 2:2 (0:0)Franz-Fekete-Stadion, 4.000, Ref. SchörgenhoferGoals: 1:0 Heinz (57.), 1:1 Katzer (67.), 1:2 Konrad (87.),  2:2 Felfernig (93.)Kapfenberg: R. Wolf - Osoinik, Schönberger, Fukal, Rauscher - Pitter (46./Schmid), Siegl, Majstorovic (81./Erkinger), Felfernig - Heinz, Pavlov (69./Di Salvo)SK Rapid: Payer - Dober, H. Eder, Soma, Katzer - Hofmann, Pehlivan, Kulovits (60./Boskovic), Kavlak (71./Drazan) - Jelavic, Gartler (60./Konrad) Yellow Cards: Siegl, Pavlov Eder (gw)
31.08.2015