Last season Wiener Neustadt trainer Peter Schöttel celebrated a suprise Hütteldorf victory, inspired by front man Guido Burgstaller. This time round both men found themselves on the Green & White half of the bank Burgstaller and midfield partner Boris Prokopic would be looking for the goals to ensure no repeat performance was forthcoming this season. Steffen Hofmann failed to make the starting lineup his place was taken by youngster Grozurek while Deni Alar was left to lead the line by himself. The Hütteldorfers, desperately in need of the three points for the final championship push, started on the front foot and the first real chance of the afternoon was rewarded with the opening goal. A stylish pass from Alar set Prokopic clear in the 14th minute the midfield man beat Siebenhandl in the Neustadt goal with a crisp finish to hand the Green & Whites a 14th minute lead. Following the goal, the game found its rhythm and Rapid continued to create chances: firstly Burgstaller went close in the 27th minute, while on the half hour mark Mario Sonnleitner was unlucky not to extend the home sides advantage with a firm header. The visitors from Lower Austria fired off a warning shot in the shape of a Schlenzer drive that narrowly missed the target in the 33rd minute. Christian Thonhofer tried his luck on the stroke of half time but failed to beat Siebenhandl and both teams retired for their half time team talks with the score at 1:0.   Atdhe Nuhiu and Christopher Drazan were introduced into proceedings shortly after the restart as Schöttel looked to continue taking the game to the opposition with positive changes. Nuhiu nearly made an immediate impact but his 48th minute header couldn't find a way past Siebenhandl. Wiener Neustadt were left to rue their luck just five minutes later: the unfortunate Mandl was denied an equalizer by the width of the crossbar Lukas Königshofer was a mere spectator as the ball rebounded off the woodwork and away to safety. The effort served as a wakeup call and Rapid again regained the initiative. A Nuhiu header nearly set up a glorious chance for Deni Alar but the striker couldn't latch onto the ball when well placed in the six yard box. The disappointment was short lived for the Rapid faithful though as just minutes later nice build up play between Alar and Drazan lead to the ball be played through to Nuhiu the big forward cashed in on a simple chance to double Rapids lead with 25 minutes left on the clock. It looked as though Nuhiu's goal would be the killer blow for the guests but Wiener Neustadt refused to let their heads drop and went off in search of a reply. Mandl went close with a firm drive on 66 minutes, while Lindner again almost halved the arrears ten minutes later. In the 79th minute Mandl again stood over a free kick in a dangerous position and this time he wasn't to be denied his curling effort found its way to the top corner, bringing his side right back into contention with ten minutes still left to play. The visitors thought they had found the equalizer just minutes later, but fired wide with only Königshofer to beat. A deep cross caused panic in the Rapid box in the 86th minute, but the points were safe when Königshofer did well to hold onto Ciftcis 90th minute effort. Christopher Drazan could have added a touch of gloss to the scoreline for Schöttel’s side but failed to convert a last minute break away. It didn’t matter the three points were in the bag and Rapid kept up the heat on their title rivals away to the west in Salzburg. tipp3-Bundesliga, 29th round: SK Rapid - Wr. Neustadt 2:1 (1:0) Hanappi-Stadion, 14.800, Referee Schörgenhofer Goals: 1:0 Prokopic (14.), 2:0 Nuhiu (64.), 2:1 Madl (79.) SK Rapid: Königshofer - Thonhofer, Sonnleitner, Pichler, Schrammel - Heikkinen, Kulovits - Prokopic, G. Burgstaller (46. Nuhiu), Grozurek (50. Drazan) - Alar (84. Trimmel) Wr. Neustadt: Siebenhandl - Klapf (83. Ciftci), Maak, Madl, A. Schicker - Pollhammer, D. Wolf, Stanislaw, Saurer (66. Prskalo) - Friesenbichler, Helly (55. Lindner) Yellow Cards: Kulovits, Drazan, Pichler Stanislaw, Klapf, Maak, Siebenhandl, Madl (gw)
18.04.2012