Rapid took to the field lacking the services of suspended duo Kulovits and Drazan, while the injured Pichler was also unavailable for selection. In came Soma, Thonhofer and Prager who all slipped seamlessly back into the action. From the first whistle Rapid took control and could have been a goal to the good as early as the 3rd minute: Hofmann split the Mattersburg back line with a precise through ball to Prager whose shot went just the wrong side of the far post. The travelling Rapid fans didn't have to wait too long before they were celebrating though: Thonhofer's ball into the area was brought under control by Guido Burgstaller who unleashed an irresistible drive into the top corner. One - Nil to the Hüttledorfers in the 20th minute. Alar then passed up an opportunity to double the advantage just a minute later, with what proved to be the Viennese' last opening for quite some time. Mattersburg provided some goal threat of their own in the 27th minute: a sweeping counter attack ended with Parlov shooting just wide when well positioned. The opportunity would be as close to beating Königshofer as the Burgenland outfit would come all afternoon.   The second 45 minutes saw Rapid lose their way somewhat Mattersburg came back into the game in terms of possession, but rarely showed the menace in the final third that would suggest an equalizer was on the cards. Lukas Grozurek entered the fray for the Green & Whites and almost immediately passed up a 58th minute chance to put the game beyond their opponents. In a rare moment of threat on the Rapid goal, Lukas Königshofer was tested by a long range Mravac strike on the hour mark. With 15 minutes to go a Seidl freekick found the unmarked Bürger in the penalty area, but luckily for Rapid the Mattersburg man made a hash of his header, failing to keep it on target. The Hütteldorfers missed the chance to put some gloss on the victory in the 88th minute when Burgstaller fired over having been set up on the counter by Deni Alar.  The unspectacular three points meant that Rapid had achieved their mission and all but sewn up second place in the table. Sunday’s visit to relegated Kapfenberg could see the Green & Whites cement their European place for next season. tipp3-Bundesliga, 34th round:Mattersburg - SK Rapid 0:1 (0:1)Pappelstadion, 7.200, Referee HarkamGoal: 0:1 (19.) BurgstallerMattersburg: Böcskör - Farkas, Malic, Mravac, Rath (54./Rodler) - Seidl, Parlov (79./Mörz), Ilsanker, Potzmann - Naumoski (63./Höller) - BürgerSK Rapid: Königshofer - Thonhofer, Sonnleitner, Soma, Katzer - Trimmel (51./Grozurek), Heikkinen, Prager, Hofmann (75./Nuhiu) - G. Burgstaller (93./Schimpelsberger), AlarYellow Card: Ilsanker (gw)
14.05.2012