Coach Peter Pacult elected to field the same side that had so comfortably dispatched pace setters Ried last week. The Hütteldorfers, playing their 2.700th league game, were looking to preserve an unbeaten run stretching back 10 games. "Viennese helping the Viennese"Before the teams to took the pitch to raise the temperature in the freezing stadium, Steffen Hofmann and the Block West presented a check worth 35.00 euros for charity, raised during the recent home games. "Things like this only happen at Rapid" Andy Marek quite rightly observed. The game duely got under way and it was the visitors, through Schreter, who had the first shot on goal on three minutes. Raimund Hedl dealt with it comfortably but was grateful just a minute later as Burgic failed to open the scoring with a close range header. Salihi opens his account for the afternoonDespite a succession of corner kicks, Rapid were not looking particularly menacing in the opposing half. That all changed on 17 minutes though, Hamdi Salihi rising to convert a inch perfect Kavlak cross - Rapid taking full advantage of numerical supremacy while Kofler was receiving treatment off the pitch. The FC Wacker player was unable to participate further, and Koch came into the game in his place. Celebrations were cut short though, as an Abraham pass caught out Raimund Hedl, the strong wind deceiving the Rapid custodian and Burgic stole in to capitalise on his misjudgement to level matters for the visitors from a tight angle. Despite Wacker appearing to be in the acendancy, it was Rapid who created the best chance in the remainder of the half - Rene Gartler striking the woodwork after showing good movement to manufacture the opportunity. Hectic second half openingDespite Innsbruck again taking charge of midfield, it was Pacult's side who looked the more likely in the final third. Veli Kavlak again proved to be the provider, lofting another delightful ball into the box - Rene Gartler was this time the recipient - 2:1 to Rapid. A slack Rapid offside trap was breached shortly afterwards however, as Schreter played in Burgic who levelled proceedings once more, Tanju Kayhan the man stepping out too late. A high foot from Ragnvald Soma on Schreter in the penalty box completed the turnaround for the men from Tirol, the Wacker man dusted himself down to beat Hedl from the spot on 58 minutes. Pacult brought on Nuhiu as a third striker in place of Saurer as Rapid went for broke. They didn't have to wait long for their rewards either, Salihi restoring parity from a free kick with just over 20 minutes still to play. Four goals in 20 rip roaring second half minutes. 11 unbeatenChances came and went in the closing stages for both teams as, to their credit, both pushed on in search of a winner. Salihi could have converted a Kavlak cross in the 80th minute for his hattrick, before Prokopic came out second best in a one on one with Hedl in the dying seconds. The whistle went and both teams were forced to settle for a point. Rapid travel to Istanbul on thursday to face Besiktas in their last european encounter of the season. It represents the Hütteldorfer's in last appointment of a very exciting 2010.Bundesliga, 19th round:SK Rapid - FC Wacker Innsbruck 3:3 (1:1)Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadion, 14.300, SR Rene EisnerGoals: 1:0 (17.) Salihi, 1:1 (27.) Burgic, 2:1 (50.) Gartler, 2:2 (53.) Burgic, 2:3 (58.) Schreter (Penalty), 3:3 (65.) SalihiSK Rapid: Hedl - Sonnleitner, Soma, Patocka, Kayhan - Kavlak, Heikkinen, Kulovits (66. Trimmel), Saurer (59. Nuhiu) - Gartler, SalihiFC Wacker Innsbruck: P. Grünwald - Kofler (18. Koch), Bea, Pichler, Hauser - Löffler (77. Ildiz), Abraham, Prokopic, Bilgen - Burgic, Schreter (92. Perstaller)Yellow Cards: Soma, Kavlak Prokopic(gw)
31.08.2015