Trainer Peter Schöttel rang the changes ahead of the visit to Ried. The line up showed four changes to the side that played out last weeks near miss against Sturm Graz: Markus Heikinnen missed out through suspension so in came Stefan Kulovits, slotting into the middle of the park in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The match marked Steffen Hofmann’s return to first team action following an enforced month long pause, a welcome sight on the team sheet for the travelling Rapid fans. Harry Pichler also came back into the fray while Christopher Drazan made his 100th appearance for the Green & Whites at the expense of Lukas Grozurek.Clinical Alar puts Rapid aheadHaving survived near calamity straight from kick off, Rapid gained their composure and settled into a promising early rhythm. The good start was capped in the 12th minute when Stefan Kulovits robbed possession for the Viennese and drove forwards deep into Ried territory. The midfield man played a well weighted ball to Deni Alar, the strikers classy first touch bought him the room him needed to sweep a crisp left footed strike past Gebauer in the Ried goal to hand Rapid the lead. Things got even better for the Hütteldorfers just seven minutes later: Burgstaller picked the ball up in a promising position on the edge of the box and fired off a tricky low shot that out foxed the Ried keeper, beating him at his near post. Ried back in the game before half time Most of the possession football and patient build up was coming from Rapid, the hosts looking to cash in mainly on set pieces. And it was a set piece that got the hosts back into the game: Zulj slammed home from close range after a scramble in the box lead to Königshofer only being able to parry the ball towards the grateful Ried man who made no mistake from a couple of yards five minutes before the break. Alar restores two-goal cushion Both teams came out for the second half unchanged. It was in a similar vain to the first goal that Rapid restored their two goal cushion just five minutes after the restart. This time it was Steffen Hofmann who collected possession following a mistake in the Ried midfield and released Alar the result was the same though. This time when baring down on goal the confident striker took his shot early with Gebauer beaten for the third time iwith a precision low effort. Hectic closing phaseThe hosts managed to claw their way back into the game once more from another set piece: a deep Lexa corner found its way to Nacho whose weak shot evaded a clutch of Rapid defenders to disappointingly nestle in the bottom corner. Prager came on for Hofmann to shore things up with little over ten minutes remaining. The Rapid skipper had put in a real captains performance with two assists and a masterful display down the right hand side – Peter Schöttel must be glad to have his mercurial playmaker back for the run in. It was to be a brief cameo for Prager however as the midfield man managed to get himself booked twice and subsequently sent off in his short appearance. The 10 remaining Hüttelfdorfers saw out the last few minutes to close on a superb win on a very difficult ground. The victory sets everything up beautifully ahead of next weeks sold out Hanappi clash against Salzburg – the result of which will go a long way to deciding which side will be crowned champions this season. tipp3-Bundesliga, 32nd round:SV Ried - SK Rapid 2:3 (1:2)Keine-Sorgen-Arena, 7.300, Referee Einwaller Goals: 0:1 Alar (12.), 0:2 Burgstaller (19.), 1:2 Zulj (39.), 1:3 Alar (51.), 2:3 Nacho (79.) SV Ried: Gebauer - Rotpuller, Reifeltshammer, Riegler - Ziegl, Hadzic (63./Carril), Schreiner - Nacho, Zulj, Meilinger (74./Lexa) - Guillem (74./Casanova) SK Rapid: Königshofer - Schimpelsberger, Sonnleitner, Pichler, Schrammel - Kulovits, Hofmann (77./Prager) - Trimmel, G. Burgstaller (81./Nuhiu), Drazan (53./Grozurek) - Alar Yellow/Red Card: Prager (89.) Yellow Cards: Meilinger, Zulj, Schreiner, Riegler Drazan, Trimmel (gw)
07.05.2012