A warm Sunday evening in Hütteldorf saw Rapid stroll to a comfortable win over Linz. The visitors were backed by strong away support following their decent start to the season, but any hopes they harboured of causing an upset were blown apart in an expolsive opening thirty minutes.New signing from Viking Stavanger Ragnvald Soma made his debut for Rapid in the middle of the back four, while Steffen Hofmann made his 200th appearance in the famous Green & White. It took only 9 minutes for Rapid to make early pressure count. An in swinging Hofmann free kick from the right was met by Linz defender Vidas Alunderis who guided the ball into his own net to hand Rapid a deserved lead. Mario Konrad nearly doubled the advantage in the 15th minute but saw his snap shot saved. Rapid didn´t have to wait long for the second however, as just three minutes later the in form Jelavic opened his Bundesliga account, meeting Steffen Hofmann´s deep cross with an acrobatic scissor kick which beat the Keeper low to his right. Jelavic then doubled his tally for the season, stealing in at the near post to meet yet another cross from the influential skipper Hofmann. He guidied his powerful header past the halpless Cavlina in the LASK goal. Steffen Hofmann then stepped up to put the game completely beyond the reach of the men from Austria´s industrial city. The talismanic Captain got his head on the end of a cross to mark his 200th appearance with a goal. It was in fact Hofmann´s first headed goal since 2005 against Club Brugge in the Champions League. Rapid were now completely out of sight with 15 minutes of the first half still remaining. Chances came and went for Konrad and Dober before the whistle went and the Green an Whites retired to the dressing room for a well earned breather.The second half saw Yasin Pehlivan and and Christopher Drazan replaced by Branko Boskovic and Christopher Trimmel Pacult no doubt looking to keep legs fresh with Thursday´s return leg with Aston Villa looming.The second half saw the inevitable drop in intensity from a Rapid side happy to conserve energy and avoid injury. Half chances continued to materialise Jelavic heading over and Trimmel seeing a left footed drive saved. On 68 minutes Rapid conceded a dissapointing yet ultimately meaningless consolation goal to Linz. The back line was caught high up the pitch allowing a clean break down the right flank. The ball was crossed low into the box and finished by Thomas Prager, despite looking a good few yards offisde. That was as good as it got for Linz with neither side conjuring anymore goals. Nikica Jelavic nearly completed his hattrick in the 79th minute, his jinking run and shot denied by Cavlina. Steffen Hofmann was replaced in the 75th minute by Milan Jovanic. The diminutive playmaker getting a well earned break before thursday. Rapid can take confidence from this match as we head to England for the second leg of the Europa Cup clash. It promises to be a titanic encounter - Villa playing themselves back into form with a 1 - 3 victory over Liverpool at Anfield, and Rapid maintaining current good form and with a 1 - 0 nil advantage. It promises to be an edge of the seats evening.SK Rapid - LASK 4:1 (4:0)Hanappi Stadium, 17.100 visitors, Referee Krassnitzer Goals: 1:0 Alunderis (8./Own Goal), 2:0 Jelavic (18.), 3:0 Jelavic (25.), 4:0 Hofmann (29.), 4:1 Prager (67.) Rapid: Payer - Dober, Soma, Patocka, Katzer - Hofmann (76. Jovanovic), Heikkinen, Pehlivan (46. Trimmel), Drazan (46. Boskovic) - Jelavic, Konrad (gw)