Injuries and suspensions saw Rapid go into Saturday's match at home to Wolfsberg missing some key personnel: Flo Kainz was suspended and unavailable for selection, with Zoran Barisic also unable to call upon the services of Louis Schaub and Jan Novota, the latter having suffered from a cold during the week meaning he was only able to re-join training on Friday. Young Croatian keeper Marko Maric ably stepped into the void created by Novota’s absence, whilst Dominik Starkl, Deni Alar and Philipp Schobesberger formed the attacking triplet behind lone striker Robert Beric. Rapid strike double early blowIt was the guests who registered the first shot of the game, as Hüttenbrenner tested Marko Maric from distance, but the Rapid custodian firstly saved and then gathered in the ball expertly to belie any hopes Wolfsberg may have had of the young keeper showing signs of nerves in only his fourth Bundesliga appearance (6.). Indeed it was Wolfsberg keeper Kofler who found himself picking the ball out of the back of the net twice in quick succession. WAC's Wernitznig failed to deal with a cross from Stefan Schwab the ball bouncing off his shin straight to Philipp Schobesberger on the penalty spot, who showed cool and deftness in rounding the visitors’ goalie before sliding the ball into an empty net - 1:0 (12.)! Just two minutes later the Hütteldorfers doubled their lead: great industry from Schobesberger saw him outmuscle Stephan Palla by the right hand corner flag before sending the ball into the danger area where it was scrambled away by desperate Wolfsberg defending to the edge of the box, but only as far as Stefan Schwab, whose low left footed, first time drive arrowed into the bottom right corner of the goal via a slight deflection - 2:0 (14.) and Rapid coasting after a quarter of an hour! The remainder of the half played out with few chances, but with Rapid bossing proceedings against an opponent still reeling from the early setbacks. Hütteldorfers' passing game clicks into placeZoran Barisic introduced Steffen Hofmann for the second period, and the captain's nous and guile proved crucial in re-injecting a bit of attacking impetuous back into the Green & Whites' game. Hofmann was central in the move that would lead to a third for Rapid: a neat passing move that saw the ball quickly worked out of the Rapid defensive third found its way to Hofmann, who played a defence splitting pass to Schwab who had advanced in behind the Wolfsberg defence through the left hand channel between centre back and full back. Schwab looked up and played a low ball into the penalty area to Robert Beric who did the rest, opening his body to let the ball come across him, guiding it into the bottom right hand corner to virtually kill the game as a contest - 3:0 (64.)! However the guests gave themselves a glimmer of hope just minutes later, when Jacobo scored from the penalty spot following a foul by Maric on De Oliveira - 1:3 (67.). Another cute pass from Hofmann created a chance for Deni Alar to immediately restore Rapid's three goal advantage, but substitute keeper Dobnik (on for the injured Kofler) turned his powerful left footed shot over the bar (70).A WAC comeback failed to gather any momentum though, and it was Rapid who rounded off the scoring late on with sublime effort from Robert Beric: another slide rule pass from the effervescent Hofmann again split the guests' defence open, playing Robert Beric into the right hand side of the penalty area, who, bearing down on Dobnik, waited for the keeper to go to ground before casually chipping the ball over him and into the back of the net to round off a truly stellar Green & White performance - 4:1 (85.). There was still time for a special moment for young striker Armin Mujakic, who came on to get his first taste of senior action in Rapid colours during the closing minutes of the match. The final whistle went and Rapid had comprehensively won the first half of this week's WAC double header. On Tuesday evening we travel to Carinthia in the ÖFB-Cup quarter finals a repeat performance would be a very welcome result! Trainer Zoran Barisic: "It was the expected tough match against a very good opponent. When you look at the way the game went, luck was on our side with the early two goals. But we weren’t able to get our passing game going and were too casual in possession during the first half. In the second period after a nervous beginning it got a little better. Thankfully we got another two. I’m delighted with the result, but there is definitely room for improvement in terms of performance."tipico Bundesliga, Match Day 27SK Rapid - WAC 4:1 (2:0)Ernst-Happel-Stadion, 12.200 Attendance, Ref HarkamGoals: 1:0 Schobesberger (13.), 2:0 Schwab (15.), 3:0 Beric (64.), 3:1 Jacobo (67./Pen), 4:1 Beric (86.)SK Rapid: Maric - Pavelic, Sonnleitner, M. Hofmann, Schrammel - Grahovac, Schwab - Schobesberger (57./S. Hofmann), Alar (88./Mujakic), Starkl (75./Stangl) - BericWAC: Kofler (46./Dobnik) - Berger, Sollbauer, Drescher, Palla - Standfest, Hüttenbrenner - Seebacher (58./Kerhe), Silvio, Wernitznig (75./P. Zulj) - JacoboYellow Cards: Pavelic Drescher(gw)
08.04.2015