125 JAHRE SK RAPID
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28.08.2017

Murg strike seals first home win of the season

Despite the season still being in it's infancy, five rounds of fixtures have already come and gone and pressure was starting to build on a Hütteldorfer side still searching for their first home victory of the campaign. On Saturday, the visit of LASK provided the tonic the 19,400 Rapid fans in attendance were looking for, as the Green & Whites recorded a precious victory that represented much more than just three valuable points.

New signing Lucas Galvao, who had been presented to media and press yesterday, took a place on the bench, but there was a debutant included in the starting formation: recalled midfielder Dejan Ljubicic returned to the Rapid fold from Wiener Neustadt and was deployed by Goran Djuricin as the defensive midfield screen. Thomas Murg was also reinstalled in the starting eleven after serving his suspension.

From the off, Rapid put the visitors from Upper Austria under immediate pressure, registering the first shots on goal via the boots of Mario Pavelic (4.), and Murg (14.), the latter of which showed great skill in dancing into the box to manufacture a shooting opportunity. But Oliver Glasner's LASK would present a stern defensive unit across the first forty-five minutes, with organised banks of four sitting deep and providing hardy resilience.

At the other end of the pitch though Linz were ineffective, with the Rapid defence having very little to deal with in the first half - it was clear that LASK would be happy enough leaving Hütteldorf with a point. Hence, it was important that the deadlock shouldn't remain intact for too long, and tensions were eased mid-way through the period: Great intensity from Rapid in the middle of the park resulted in the visitors turning over possession; Louis Schaub drove forwards, showing good vision to pick out Thomas Murg, who took one touch as he brought the ball onto his right foot, before firing a low shot across Linz keeper Pevan into the bottom left corner - 1:0 (22.)!

The first half ended with Rapid deservedly sitting on a one-goal lead. The second half would prove a much more testing affair for the Hütteldorfers however in a defensive sense, as Linz returned to the field with renewed attacking intent. With only 120 seconds played, Strebinger rushed off his line to smother an attempt from Berisha, who had managed to get in behind the Rapid defence (47.). But the Green & Whites managed to weather the storm and continued to enjoy chances of their own: Gio Kvilitaia was denied by an expert stop from Pevan after he was set up by the lively Louis Schaub (50.), before the Linz keeper pulled off another save, this time spectacularly tipping a fierce drive from Stefan Schwab over the corssbar (68.).

Goran Djuricin made a couple of changes as the game entered its final phases as he looked to maintain the upper hand, with Philipp Schobesberger and Stephan Auer being thrust into the action. And it was the flying winger who was next to be denied by Pevan, as the Linz keeper got down low to turn a flat effort from Schobesberger round the post (80.). In the dying embers of the game there were two huge chances - one at either end - as both teams spurned opportunities to affect the game: firstly, Rapid were again indebted to Strebinger as he pulled off a magnificent stop to deny Bruno after the Linz man had been put through on goal; at the other end of the pitch and with the whole goal to aim at, Joelinton - much to his own disbelief - missed the target after having time and space to measure up a shot just 10 yards or so from goal.

But it was immaterial: Rapid had secured a crucial home victory much to the relief of the on-looking Green & White fans. There was further reason to cheer, as in the closing moments Galvao also got his first taste of the Allainz Stadium turf as he made his debut in Green & White! Rapid!

(gw)

tipico Bundesliga, 6th round:
SK Rapid - LASK 1:0 (1:0)
Allianz Stadium, 19.400 Attendance, Ref Hameter

Goal: 1:0 Murg (22.);

SK Rapid: Strebinger - Pavelic, Sonnleitner, M. Hofmann, Bolingoli - Schaub (72./Schobesberger), Ljubicic (78./Auer), Schwab, Murg - Joelinton, Kvilitaia (89./Galvao);

LASK: Pervan - Ramsebner, Trauner, Luckeneder (46./Pogatetz) - Ranftl, Erdogan, Michorl (83./Raguz), Ullmann - Rep (76./Riemann), M. Berisha, Bruno;

Yellow Cards: Schwab, M. Hofmann, Ljubicic, Pavelic; Trauner, Michorl