Alongside the existing injury casualties Rapid had to make do without the services of Terrence Boyd owing to a shoulder problem and the suspended Stephan Palla. Centre back Mario Sonnleitner was only fit enough to take a place on the bench having not fully recovered from an abductor complaint. Sonnleitner's absence meant Harry Pichler lined up alongside Christopher Dibon in central defence. In more positive news Steffen Hofmann had overcome his back issues in order to retake his place in the line up. Rapid would have fancied their chances going into the game against the team propping up the Bundesliga following a difficult opening to the new season, one that had cost manager Toni Polster his job.Punished after not capitalising on chancesA bright start for Rapid culminated in a chance for Guido Burgstaller, who could and maybe should have done better after having been put in behind the Admira defence by a cute ball from Steffen Hofmann (9.). A Louis Schaub shot that tested the keeper (24.), a Hofmann free kick that went close (29.) and another Schaub effort following nice build up play with Marcel Sabitzer represented the best openings of the half for the Hütteldorfers. In football it's always possible that after passing up good chances you get punished, and those concerns came home to roost before half time: a set piece was only half cleared by the Green & White back line, the ball falling to Domoraud who unleashed an unstoppable shot right into the angle between post and crossbar from a difficult angle and fully 20 yards from goal leaving Jan Novota with no chance - 1:0 (36.). It nearly got worse for Rapid as sloppy play ceded possession to Admira and in particular Sax, who drove into the penalty and fired off a good shot that Jan Novota did well to keep out (41.).Lacking cutting edge and...It was clear that Rapid would have to up the levels of their performance in the second half to get back into the game, and Zoran Barisic's team emerged for the second half in the same fashion as they had in the first: just minutes after the restart Louis Schaub met Thomas Schrammel's cross with a powerful header but home goalkeeper Leitner produced a superb stop to deny the young Rapid live wire (48.). The largest portion of the second half saw a tidy performance from the Viennese who dominated possession and kept pushing forwards, attempting to find the killer through ball or precise cross. As the half wore on though it became clear that finding a decisive attacking moment was becoming tougher and tougher, with Rapid expunging a lot of energy but gaining little reward in an attacking sense for their efforts....hit with late sucker punchOn the occasions that Admira did venture into Rapid territory they carried a fair bit of menace: on the hour mark Sax again had an excellent chance but fired over from an inviting position. Schicker also passed up an opportunity to double Admira's advantage, missing the target completely when clean through on goal (67.), and thus Rapid remained in the hunt for points. Despite bossing the game territorially the Hütteldorfers couldn't muster anything more than half chances, and in injury time Admira put the game to bed: a swift counter attack ended with a cross to the unmarked Schicker who made no mistake with a simple header from close range to kill off Rapid's hopes of a point - 2:0 (92.).The result was an unwelcome shock that represents a step backwards for a Rapid side who have more in the locker than was on display during this fixture. It's important that the side dust themselves down and find a performance more akin to that of the previous weeks on Thursday night against Georgians Dila Gori as the quest to reach the Europa League Group Stages resumes.tipp3-Bundesliga, 5th MatchdayFC Admira - SK Rapid 2:0 (1:0)BSFZ-Arena, 7.224 Attendance, Ref HarkamGoals: 1:0 (36.) Domoraud, 2:0 (92.) SchickerAdmira: Leitner - T. Weber, Ebner, Windbichler, Katzer - Schick (88. Auer), Schachner (75. Rusek), Schwab, Domoraud - Rivera (56. R. Schicker), SaxSK Rapid: Novota - Trimmel, Dibon, Pichler, Schrammel - Petsos, Behrendt (77. Boskovic) - Schaub, S. Hofmann (63. Grozurek), Sabitzer - BurgstallerYellow cards: Schachner, Ebner, Schick Hofmann, Trimmel, Sabitzer, Pichler(gw)
20.08.2013