Sunday evening's encounter rounded off a hectic week for the Hütteldorfers: following important wins over Thun and Salzburg it was relegation threatened Wacker Innsbruck's turn to visit Vienna. Zoran Barisic shuffeld his pack with big hitters such as Terrence Boyd and Thanos Petsos taking a breather on the bench for this one. However there are no guaruntees in football, and from the first minute a professional Green & White outfit set about their task with drive and determination. A goal made in Hütteldorf Rapid's passing football clicked into gear from the off, the first effort on goal coming via a long range Brian Behrendt effort (11.). Then clearer chances began to follow: Steffen Hofmann drove into the penalty area, whipped a ball into the penalty which, via some panicky defensive efforts from Wacker, ended up with Louis Schaub who fired just over from close range (25.). Rapid seized the chance to capitalise on the visitor's shakey defence and forced the break through just minutes later as two home grown starlets combined to devastating effect. Fantastic play from Schaub on the wing culminated with a low cross into the box that found Starkl perfectly. The striker made no mistake with his finish - 1:0 and clinical play from Rapid! Shots began to rain down on Innsbruck keeper Schober, but he managed to keep the Hütteldorfers at bay. On the stroke of half time Innsbruck created their best chance of the game, but Novota was on hand to deny Lukas Hinterseer (45.). Wrapping it up late onNot long after the restart Starkl became provider for Schaub as an unchanged Rapid picked up where they left off. This time the goalscorer fed the ball into Schaub, his shot cleared off the line by some desperate last ditch defending (49.). Three minutes later there was a game changing moment when a foul by Wacker defender Kofler on livewire Starkl resulted in a second yelow card and an early bath for the Innsbruck man (52.). With the pressure ramped up further the killer second seemed like it could arrive at any moment. Rapid conituned to play an attractive brand of football as they made the ball do the work against a tiring 10 man opponent. The final pass was missing, but with Rapid so dominant and the guests so passive there was no trace of apprehension in the Green & Whites play despite the narrow lead. Finally in added time the goals that Rapid had deserved materialised to give the game a more realistic score line: firstly substitute Dominik Wydra got into the box via a clever one-two with Schaub and crashed the ball home off the underside of the crossbar - 2:0 and job done (91.)! Seconds before the final whistle there was reasion for the 10,500 strong crowd to celebrate further: Wydra now turned provider, whipping a ball into Mario Sonnleitner who converted from close range to wrap up a thoroughly satisfactory three points for Rapid. The game represented a perfect end to an outstading week for the club - three wins in seven days and the boys from Hütteldorf now have momentum. tipp3-Bundesliga, Match Day 17:SK Rapid - Wacker Innsbruck 3:0 (1:0)Gerhard Hanappi-Stadion, 10.500, Ref OuschanGoals: 1:0 (29.) Starkl, 2:0 (91.) Wydra, 3:0 (93.) SonnleitnerSK Rapid: Novota - Trimmel, Sonnleitner, Dibon, Schrammel - Behrendt, Boskovic (64. Wydra) - S. Hofmann (72. Pavelic), Schaub, Burgstaller (64. Grozurek) - StarklWacker: Schober - Bergmann, Kofler, Siller, Hauser - Abraham (73. R. Wallner), Löffler (56. Vucur) - Jevtic, Milosevic, Wernitznig (46. Schütz) - HinterseerYellow Card: SillerYellow/Red: Kofler (53.)(gw)
01.12.2013