Saturday saw the visit of early table toppers Wacker Innsbruck. The Hanappi Stadium was again sold out for the fifth time already this campaign. The Tirol side travelled to Vienna again under somewhat of a black cloud. Erwin Tögel, part of the board at FC Wacker, tragically passed away recently follwing a long battle with servere illness. For the second time this season Innsbruck played sporting black arm bands (the last occasion was in Mattersburg, in memory of Theo Grüner). The teams emerged with the Hanappi rocking, the stadium turned into a cauldron by the impressive pre match show of support. Interesting team news for Rapid saw youngster Martin Kraus on the bench. It was the 16 year old keepers' first taste of life in with the first team. Innsbruck received a boost before kick off as Inaki Bea was cleared to take his place in the line up following initial doubts over his invlovement.Both teams flew out of the traps, responding to the atmosphere. The visitors manufactured the first attempt on goal after little over a minute, a powerful Schreter effort just missing the upright. Hedl repelled a ninth minute Burgic effort, with Rapid loanee Prokopic unable to cash in on the rebound. The visitors were playing a tactically astute game, sitting deep then springing forwards to good effect. Rapid forced their first corner of the game which lead to a Vennegoor of Hesselink strike being rightly chalked off for a clear offside.Mayhem reigned in the Innsbruck box on the half hour mark. Heikkinen fed the ball into Hofmann, the Rapid skipper in return set up Jan VoH. The strikers effort came back off the upright to Hamdi Salihi whose follow up effort was repelled by Grünwald. The ball again came loose, this time falling to Veli Kavlak. The winger gathered the ball and took it past advancing keeper Grünwald before appearing to be clearly felled by the keeper's lurch. Incredibly rather than winning a penalty, Kavlak earned a second yellow from referee Brugger. It was an extremely harsh decision and the Hütteldorfers were forced to play for over an hour a man light. In response to the numerical disadvantage, Pacult shifted Salihi out to the left wing to take Kavlak's place leaving VoH to lead the line by himself. Öbster compounded the sense of injustice around the ground by clinically dispatching an unstoppable effort past Hedl to hand the visitors a half time lead.Predictably at the start of the second period, the visitors open style of play took a backseat in favour of hard tackling and robust defence. VoH almost restored parity 10 minutes after the restart, his audacious chip thwarted by Grünwald's athleticism. The home crowd didn't have to wait long to celebrate the equaliser though as Steffen Hofmann levelled proceedings on the hour mark with a delightful chip which gave the Innsbruck keeper absolutely no chance. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Rapid were now for the first time beginning to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Coach Peter Pacult looked sought to capitalise on the new found momentum by bringing on Hinum for Dober. Seconds after the switch, Rapid enjoyed a spot of good fortune, as a Prokopic effort came back off the crossbar and just illueded his lurking team mates. Trimmel came on in the closing stages for Hofmann with Heikkinen taking over the captains armband.The last opportunity of the afternoon fell to Katzer, the left back guiding his header just wide of the post, inches away from completing what would have been a remarkable turnaround for the Green Whites. The game finished 1:1 which on the balance of play seems to be a fair result, although giving the current league standings, Innsbruck will have travelled back to Tirol the happier of the two teams, having preserved the gap between themselves and their illustrious green white opponents.SK Rapid - Wacker Innsbruck 1:1 (0:1)Hanappi-Stadion, 17.500, Referee BruggerGoals: 0:1 Öbster (34.), 1:1 Hofmann (59.)SK Rapid: Hedl - Dober (66./Hinum), Sonnleitner, Soma, Katzer - Hofmann (82./Trimmel), Heikkinen, Pehlivan, Kavlak - Vennegoor of Hesselink, Salihi (75./Nuhiu)Innsbruck: P. Grünwald - Harding, Bea, Pichler, Hauser - Koch, Abraham, Prokopic (89./Löffler), Öbster (62./Perstaller) - Burgic (81./Bammer), SchreterYellow-Red Card: Kavlak (29.)Yellow Cards: Heikkinen, Vengenoor of Hesselink, Hofmann Bea, Hauser, Perstaller, Schreter(gw)
31.08.2015