Despite Jan Novota returning to training on Friday having recovered from flu, Zoran Barisic somewhat surprisingly gave Marko Maric the nod to start between the sticks - a real vote of confidence for the youngster making only his fifth competitive appearance in Green & White. Just two places and two points separated second place Rapid and fourth place Sturm going into the clash in a long sold out UPC Arena. With all the ingredients for a real footballing spectacle in place the game itself certainly lived up to the hype.  Schobesberger does it againLivewire Philipp Schobesberger had what looked like a legitimate early penalty claim rejected by referee Ouschan: a quick one-two on the right hand flank with Mario Pavelic played Schobesberger into the box where he appeared to be upended by Sturm man Kamavuaka and could consider himself hard done by not to have been awarded a spot kick. Rapid's early efforts though were not to go unrewarded as minutes later Schobesberger opened the scoring. A throw in deep in Rapid territory found its way to Steffen Hofmann, who launched a long lofted ball in behind a high Sturm defence. Schobesberger latched onto the pass, fending off a challenge from Madl before rounding Sturm keeper Grazei and rolling the ball into an empty net - 1:0 and cue wild celebrations from the travelling 1500 Rapid fans (9.). The goal was the increasingly influential Schobesberger's 6th in 7 games. Soft equaliserWith holding midfield duo Stefan Schwab and Thanos Petsos keeping Graz's attack in check, the hosts were struggling to threaten Maric's goal. However the equaliser arrived out of the blue on the quarter hour mark, as a long deep free kick found its way to an unmarked Piesinger just yards from goal, who had the simple task of steering the ball home with an unchallenged header - 1:1. After the goal a battle in the midfield unfolded, with neither team willing to concede an inch. The better football was arguably coming from the Green & Whites, who were often just lacking the final pass to round off some promising passing moves. The game may have been lacking in clear cut chances - a direct corner from Steffen Hofmann that nearly found its way into the far corner the closest either side came to a second (34.) - but the tempo and passion remained throughout. A down pour of rain accompanied the half time whistle as the contest remained deadlocked. Petsos magic from long rangeWith neither trainer opting to make a sub during the break the two teams returned for the second half, right at the start of which ex-Graz man Robert Beric threatened with a good shot, but his long range effort sailed narrowly wide of the target (46.). Again though it was Rapid who were the livelier team in the opening minutes, and again their efforts were rewarded: Thanos Petsos pulled the trigger from fully 35 meters, his thunderbolt of an effort beat Grazei and crashed down off the crossbar and over the line - 2:1 (53.)! With the home side wobbling Rapid went in search of a third. Grazei was called into action to fist away a Steffen Hofmann free kick (62.), just minutes before he was again tested by another long range hammer from Petsos, which he did well to turn behind for a corner (64.). The flurry of goal mouth action continued as the ball was well worked to Flo Kainz on the edge of the box, who hit a measured shot towards the bottom right hand corner but again Grazei was on hand to keep Sturm in the match (67.). Pegged back againJust as it looked like Rapid were going to bury their opponents, a rare foray forwards by Sturm resulted in another goal: a nice passing move ended with the ball being cut back from the by-line to Daniel Beichler, whose side footed finish restored parity - 2:2 (70.). Rapid almost found an instant response when Mario Pavelic played a low cross teasingly across the Sturm six yard box to Robert Beric, who agonisingly failed to get the telling touch with the goal gaping (72.). The drama continued into the dying moments as Sturm were reduced to nine as Kienast received a second yellow for a high foot on Max Hofmann, whilst Hofmann again was on the end of a dangerous challenge from Madl who also departed proceedings early albeit deep into stoppage time. But the score remained 2:2 as both teams took a share of the spoils. Trainer Zoran Barisic: "First of all I have to congratulate the team on the performance. They implemented everything we talked about. It says a lot about our mentality that we keep looking to play attacking football regardless of the score line. I’m absolutely delighted with the performance. The players didn’t need any extra motivation for a game like this against a huge rival with a fan base like that. I’ll think about where we could’ve improved our game. But it’s great to see how the team is developing. It makes me optimistic about what the future holds. We can build on this performance, but it hasn’t brought us any closer to securing second place."tipico-Bundesliga, Match Day 31Sturm Graz - SK Rapid 2:2 (1:1)UPC-Arena, 15.400 Attendance, Ref OuschanGoals: 0:1 Schobesberger (8.), 1:1 Piesinger (16.), 1:2 Petsos (54.), 2:2 Beichler (70.)Sturm Graz: Gratzei - Spendlhofer, Madl, Kamavuaka, Oschtschypko - Hadzic, Piesinger - Schick, Avdijaj (63./Beichler), Gruber (75./Offenbacher) - KienastSK Rapid: Maric - Pavelic, Sonnleitner, M. Hofmann, Schrammel - Petsos, Schwab - Schobesberger, S. Hofmann (74./Behrendt), F. Kainz (80./Starkl) - Beric (85./Prosenik)Yellow Cards: Piesinger, Hadzic, Oschtschypko, Beichler, Schick PetsosRed Cards: Kienast (87./dangerous play, second yellow), Madl (94./dangerous play, second yellow)(gub)
04.05.2015