For the important trip to the Innviertel for the match with high flying SV Ried, trainer Zoran Barisic again shuffled his pack, deploying Thanos Petsos alongside Wydra in the midfield engine room with Terrence Boyd resuming his usual duties as lone striker.Rapid had better of the opening exchanges and played some good football, pushing Ried back into their own half and probing away in midfield. Thomas Schrammel put over a wicked cross in the game's first moment of danger (7.), before some good technical build up play got Louis Schaub in behind the Ried defence before a promising attack fizzled out (16.). More quality build up play from the Viennese resulted in Louis Schaub sliding in Marcel Sabitzer on goal. Sabitzer's finish though didn't match the quality of the run and his low left footed drive was saved by Gebauer (19.). The Hütteldorfers then passed up another golden chance as Steffen Hofmann and and Sabitzer worked a free kick on the far left hand side of the pitch, which the Rapid captain swung into the box and onto the head on the unmarked Dibon. All alone in front of goal and on the edge of the 6 yard box, the central defender's header lacked the necessary precision and his ultimately tame effort was easily dealt with by Gebauer.Around the half an hour mark you could sense a change in momentum in the game, with the home side growing in confidence and pushing Rapid deeper and deeper, the influential Kragl causing problems down the left hand side. Having not capitalised on their own time in the ascendency, Rapid were clinically punished for slack marking by their hosts: a combination of Hinum and Kragl robbed Trimmel of the ball on the right flank, Kragl played the ball low into the penalty area at the second attempt, his cross picking out the unmarked Zulj, who fired into the roof of the net from barely a few yards out - 0:1 (39.) and poor defending costing the side dearly. A good probing run and cross from Trimmel a couple of minutes before half time was as close as Rapid came to an equaliser before the whistle went.The second half began with Rapid looking to make amends, forcing a string of early corners as they looked to restore parity (50.). It was Ried though who had the first chances of the half, ex-Rapid man Thomas Hinum's stinging right footed shot fully extended Jan Novota, who just seconds later was forced to sprint off his line to meet on rushing Ried attacker Perstaller just as it looked like the home side were going to pull further ahead (52.). Rapid hit back with superb interlocking play as they swept forwards from right to left to right: Schaub played the ball into Hofmann, who laid it off for the on rushing Trimmel to get a shot off on goal. The marauding Rapid right back's effort was a bit on the wild side however and cleared the crossbar comfortably (67.). If Rapid were being somewhat profligate, Ried were proving to be the opposite: a ball from the wing was played into Perstaller, who deftly headed the ball into the advanced left back Schicker, who composed himself well before beating Jan Novota with a decent left footed strike - 0:2 and Rapid left with a mountain to climb.In the closing stages the Green & Whites managed to mount a respectable late charge: substitute Dominik Starkl thought he'd pulled one back when he tapped home after Gebauer spilled a shot but was denied by the linesman's correctly raised flag (83.). Another substitute, Lukas Grozurek went close with a curling effort that was deflected just wide (86.), before the third player off the bench for Rapid passed up the chance to score from the penalty spot. Guido Burgstaller stepped up to take the spot kick after Marcel Sabitzer had been clearly fouled, but his attempt to find the roof of the net was saved spectacularly by Gebauer as Rapid's luck completely deserted them in front of goal.The penalty was the last chance on a frustrating evening for Rapid: the performance was largely there, but whilst Ried capitalised on their few clear cut chances, Zoran Barisic's side failed to do the same and conceded bad goals at bad moments. The Viennese will feel there was more in this game, but away at a notoriously tough ground there were plenty of positives to take from the performance.tipp3-Bundesliga, 18th round:SV Ried - SK Rapid 2:0 (1:0)Ried, Keine-Sorgen-Arena, 4.100 Attendance, Ref HarkamGoals: 1:0 Zulj (39.), 2:0 A. Schicker (74.)SV Ried: Gebauer - Baumgartner, Riegler (61. Janeczek), Reifeltshammer, A. Schicker - Hinum, Trauner - Möschl (88./Sandro), Zulj, Kragl - Perstaller (81./Kreuzer)SK Rapid: Novota - Trimmel, Sonnleitner, Dibon, Schrammel - Petsos, Wydra (79./Grozurek) - S. Hofmann (70./Burgstaller), Schaub, Sabitzer - Boyd (58./Starkl)Yellow Cards: Baumgartner Petsos, Trimmel (gw)
05.12.2013