Guido Burgstaller failed to recover in time for the 307th Vienna derby, whilst Stephan Palla recovered sufficiently from his knock on Thursday in order to take a place on the bench. Thanos Petsos sat out the match as he served a one match suspension, but otherwise a strong looking Rapid team went into the ever intense match against their city rivals.Midfield battleIn the fever pitch derby atmosphere it took a while for the teams to settle and for the chances to flow. Branko Boskovic fired off a range finder in the 19th minute following corner but only found the side netting. At the opposite end of the pitch Austria striker Hosiner could count himself unlucky when his powerful effort grazed the top of the crossbar as Rapid breathed a sigh of relief (20.). Hosiner's effort was as close as either team came to breaking the first half deadlock, with long range efforts from Suttner (26.) and Boskovic (35.) representing the best efforts in the remainder of the half from both the Violets and Green & Whites respectively. Neither team was willing to give any space or territory to the opposition, but Rapid possibly shaded it in terms of passing and movement, with only the final ball lacking for the Hütteldorfers.Kienast hits the bar, Boyd hits the netThe start of the second half saw little change to the pattern of the game, with both Trainers also electing to not make any personnel changes during the interval. The game remained highly competitive and tense, but lacking in concrete chances. The first chance of the half - and Rapid's best of the game to this point - fell to Thursday's goal hero in Genk Marcel Sabitzer, who on this occasion could only find the side netting after been put in by a perfectly weighted slide rule pass from Steffen Hofmann (57.). The next goalmouth action took place in the Rapid penalty area, with Roman Kienast the next Austria player to hit the bar, this time with a powerful header that slammed against the woodwork following a Suttner cross (67.). Steffen Hofmann did his best to cash in on this slice of luck for Rapid when he worked his way into the space on the edge of the Austria box, but home keeper Lindner managed to get down to his left and keep out the Rapid skipper's clever effort (70.).The clock ticked down and it became apparent that if either side could find the breakthrough it would more than likely earn the three points. With time almost up and a 0:0 looking on the cards, Thomas Schrammel found himself in space on the left, and - just as in Genk on Thursday - swung over a beautiful left footed cross into the perfect area and it was met by Terrence Boyd who headed the ball back across Lindner in the direction the ball had come from and into the goal - 0:1! Cue wild celebrations from Boyd and the Rapid fans stationed just meters behind the goal into which Boyd had scored. With no time to respond Austria were left condemned to a home derby defeat as Rapid marched off the pitch victorious having secured the city bragging rights for the Green & White half of Vienna.Trainer Zoran Barisic: "Like the stats suggest its not easy to win in the Horr Stadium. This win does us an unbelievable amount of good and I want to dedicate the victory to our fans and our President. Of course we had slices of luck but we deserved the win. It was us who took the initiative and we also had our chances."Steffen Hofmann: "For large parts we were the better team, controlled the game but did have luck in a couple of instances. We feel that we deserved the win"tipp3-Bundesliga, Match Day 13:FK Austria - SK Rapid 0:1 (0:0)Generali Arena, 11.500 Attendance, Ref GrobelnikGoal: 0:1 Boyd (88.)Austria: Lindner - Koch, Rogulj, Ortlechner, Suttner - Royer (63./Spiridonovic), Holland, Mader, Jun (56./Simkovic) - Hosiner (82./Okotie), KienastSK Rapid: Novota - Trimmel, Sonnleitner, Dibon, Schrammel - Behrendt, Boskovic (90./Pichler) - S. Hofmann (85./Wydra), Schaub (67./Starkl), Sabitzer - BoydYellow Cards: Rogulj Boyd, Sabitzer (gw)
28.10.2013