Pacult freshened up the starting 11 following thursday's draining trip to Portugal. Rene Gartler and Hamdi Salihi were paired together in attack for the Hütteldorfers, while Hinum and Payer also came into the starting line up for Saurer and Hedl respectively. Following a rather tame opening period, Rapid took the lead with the games first meaningful attack. A long Soma ball from the back caught out the young Austria defence and found its way through to Veli Kavlak, the Rapid winger beat the on rushing keeper to the ball and with a deft touch sent he it on its way to the back of the net. Rene Gartler followed up and just to make sure, tapped the ball over the line to get his name on the scoresheet and hand Rapid the lead. The goal advantage proved to be a short lived affair, as just twelve minutes later Austria captain Freitag levelled from the spot to retore parity for the hosts. Thomas Hinum was harshly adjudged to have been fouling a player from an Austria cross, before Freitag sent Payer the wrong way from the resulting penalty. Chances were few and far between in the rest of the game, with Rapid dominating possession for long periods, but struggling to convert territorial dominance into clear cut chances. It was a frustrating 90 minutes for Rapid, as was extra time before the penalty shoot out, the Hütteldorfers devoid of the required creativity to unlock the oppposition defence. Kayhan missed his spot kick for the green whites, as did Freitag for the home side. The rest were successfully converted until the last 5th kick for Austria, taken by Mally, was kept out by Payer.It earned Rapid progression through to the next round by the slimmest of margins and will have done little to relieve the increasing pressure surrounding the club at the moment. High flyers Ried await the team now on Wednesday in what could prove to be a very tricky away day indeed.  ÖFB-Cup, 2nd Round:Austria Amateure - SK Rapid 3:4 on Penalties (1:1)Goals: 0:1 Gartler (9.), 1:1 Freitag (22.)SK Rapid: Payer Dober, Sonnleitner, Soma, Kayhan Hofmann, Kulovits, Hinum (78. Saurer), Kavlak Gartler, Salihi (60. Trimmel)(gw)
31.08.2015