Harry Pichler was the only Rapidler to brave the minus 6 degree weather, taking to the field in a short sleeved shirt, but Rapid set about trying to raise the temperature from the off. Christoph Saurer, on loan from Hütteldorf in Wiener Neustadt, tried his luck with a weak effort in the fourth minute, but the first meaningful attempt on goal arrived 12 minutes later through Christopher Drazan his decent effort worked Siebenhandl in the first of a string of saves the keeper would be forced to make throughout the course of the evening. Despite the freezing temperatures, the game was slowly starting to heat up. Guido Burgstaller had the next chance for Rapid as he ghosted past his man in the 24th minute before unleashing a powerful drive that narrowly went the wrong side of the far post. Siebenhandl was called into action again shortly after, this time to brilliantly deny Steffen Hofmann from a free kick. Madl and Pollhammer attempted to redress for the balance for the lower Austrians, but Lukas Königshofer dealt with both efforts, ensuring the teams went into their half time team talks all square.  Both teams came out for the start of the second half showing no changes to the original line ups the action on the pitch also bore a strong resemblance to that of the first half. The opening exchanges were not overly exciting but the action was just around the corner Pollhammer squandered a glorious chance to give his side the lead during a rare foray forwards by Wiener Neustadt, as Lukas Köningshofer denied him from point blank range at the back post in the 52nd minute. Just two minutes later a Katzer header almost put the Viennese in front before Lukas Grozurek took to the field to make his Green-White debut. It took until the 76th minute before Rapid again threatened Siebenhandl Sonnleitner got himself on the end of a deep Hofmann cross, but the home keeper again gathered the ball in and snuffed out the danger.  With little over 5 minutes to go, Rapid captain Steffen Hofmann finally beat Siebenhandl but was this time denied by the width of the crossbar. The ball rebounded back into play and was met by a Burgstaller header, but the home keeper had recovered his bearings and tipped the ball back on to the woodwork and away to safety. With the chance went Rapid’s hope of claiming the precious three points they had richly deserved. A combination of bad luck and inspired goal keeping had denied them but a point in a frozen Wiener Neustadt represents a solid start to the second half of the Bundesliga campaign. tipp3-Bundesliga, 20th round:Wr. Neustadt - SK Rapid 0:0Stadion Wr. Neustadt, 4.050, Referee SchüttengruberWr. Neustadt: Siebenhandl - Klapf, Maak, Madl, A. Schicker - Stanislaw - Pollhammer, D. Wolf, Saurer, Evseev - Prskalo (69. Ciftci)SK Rapid: Königshofer - Schimpelsberger, Sonnleitner, Pichler, Katzer - Heikkinen, Prokopic - Alar (60. Grozurek), Hofmann, Drazan (66. Nuhiu) - BurgstallerYellow Cards: Maak, Evseev, Saurer Drazan, Heikkinen (gw)
13.02.2012