Trainer Peter Schöttel made two changes to his lineup for the trip to Burgenland following his suspension in the previous weeks clash against Salzburg, Pichler returned to the line up in central defence, while the more surprising inclusion of the afternoon was the of young keeper Lukas Königshofer. The afternoon marked his Bundesliga debut for the club and only his second competitive appearance: his first outing came over a year ago in last season’s cup match against Hartberg.  Hectic OpeningOpposing Captain Michael Mörz was the first player to test Königshofer: the debutant dived full length to impressively turn the effort onto the crossbar and thus preventing an early setback for Rapid. At the other end Prager trapped a wayward Steffen Hofmann shot but was thwarted by home keeper Borentisch. Rapid continued their good work from last week, pressuring and harrying the hosts high up the pitch whilst playing some good flowing football whilst in possession. It was the Burgenlanders who were celebrating though in the 21st minute as Mörz guided home a decent header only to be greeted by the sight of the linesman’s raised flag. The score line remained unchanged as a compelling first half drew to a close, then right on the stroke of halftime Naumoski capitalized on confusion in the Rapid box and converted a cross to hand his side the lead.    Nuhiu on to form three pronged attackRapid emerged for the second half unchanged, with Hofmann still playing just off front man Burgstaller in attack. Schöttel changed his attacking shape soon after the resumption of proceedings when he introduced Nuhiu for Trimmel. Hofmann stayed in the "number 10" role, while Nuhiu went up top with Burgstaller attacking from the wide right position. On the hour mark Burgstaller tested Borentisch with a decent effort while Hofmann also tried his luck to no avail from long range. Substitute grabs the equaliserIn the 69th minute Nuhiu was in the right place to cash in on a Borentisch error as the tall forward stooped to head Rapid level from close range. It was now more than the Hütteldorfers deserved at that stage. Now firmly in the ascendency, the Viennese drove on in search of a winner. Rodler received a second yellow card with just under 20 minutes to when he hauled down Christopher Drazan to deny Rapid a promising looking breakaway chance. With 15 minutes left on the clock Nuhiu, now brimming with confidence, tried his luck from distance but the ball flew agonizingly just wide of the target. Hofmann with a Hofmann-esq winnerWith just over ten minutes left Rapid snatched the lead - and with it ultimately the three points - through a tried and tested source. The ball dropped to the Rapid skipper on the edge of the box and he drilled an unstoppable effort that was still rising and it smashed into the roof of the net. Drazan received a soft second yellow card of the afternoon and left Rapid with a nervy five or six minutes to negotiate. The Burgenland side nearly snatched a point right at the death but young Lukas Königshofer literally sprung to the rescue, diving full length to divert a goal-bound Bürger free kick over the crossbar. tipp3-Bundesliga, 16th round:SV Mattersburg - SK Rapid 1:2 (1:0)Pappelstadion, 9.200, Referee EisnerGoals: 1:0 (45.+1) Naumoski, 1:1 (69.) Nuhiu, 1:2 (79.) HofmannSV Mattersburg: Borenitsch - Farkas, Malic, Pöllhuber, Rath (40. Rodler) - Höller, Seidl (78. Parlov), Steiner, Mörz - Naumoski (64. Röcher), BürgerSK Rapid: Königshofer - Schimpelsberger, Sonnleitner, Pichler, Katzer - Heikkinen, Prager - Trimmel (50. Nuhiu), Hofmann (86. Thonhofer), Drazan - G. BurgstallerYellow-Red Cards: Rodler (72.) Drazan (83.)Yellow Cards: Steiner, Malic Trimmel, Heikkinen, Pichler, Schimpelsberger(gw)
01.12.2011