Zoran Barisic opted for an offensive looking 4-2-3-1 formation for Saturday evening's visit of SV Ried. Petsos and Wydra were deployed as midfield anchors, with Burgstaller, Sabitzer and Deni Alar, making his first start since returning from injury, behind lone striker Terrence Boyd. For Ried Harry Pichler made his first return to the Hanappi since his winter transfer to the Innviertel alongside fellow former Rapid players Hinum and Gartler. It was an important fixture for two clubs pushing for Europa League football next season.Clear cut chances from the offAlmost directly from kick off Rapid could have gone ahead as Marcel Sabitzer slid in Terrence Boyd who shot against Ried keeper Gebauer, the ball rebounded out to Dominik Wydra at the edge of the box but his stinging drive went just the wrong side of the right hand post (1.). The visitors first chance wasn't long in coming: Harry Pichler's low left footed shot across goal was turned behind for a corner by the diving Jan Novota (3.). Following the breathless opening minutes the game settled down into an attractive affair, with both teams showing good attacking intent. Ried exerted a period of consistent pressure on Rapid's backline, but a string of corners failed to produce a clear sight of goal (15).Opportunities continue to flowIt took a while for the Green & Whites to create their next opening which eventually resulted from Petsos winning possession in midfield and playing in Sabitzer. The ball was fed into Burgstaller down the left hand side of the penalty area, who whipped in an inviting ball that was just too high for the lurking Boyd (28.). The game then opened up as play quickly swung from one end to the other resulting in both teams passing up good chances: firstly Sabitzer played a creative pass from a sitting position into Burgstaller who caught the ball flush but sent his volley over the crossbar (32.). Next it was the visitors who threatened through Kragl who played a low ball into the Rapid penalty area that found Oliva, who had found an alarming amount of space but couldn't find a finish on the turn as Novota did well to parry the ball to safety (32.). A hectic phase of play was rounded off with another good chance for Boyd: a delightfully weighted chipped pass from Petsos set up the American striker beautifully for a sweetly struck volley that flashed just wide of the far right hand post (33.). Goal mouth action continued to flow as claims for a hand ball from a Trimmel cross were waved away by the referee (37.), before Burgstaller again shot wide from a good position following some flowing attacking football from the Hütteldorfers (40.). Then a great move carved open the Ried defence and should have resulted in the breakthrough when a delicate through ball from Alar played in Boyd, but again with only the keeper to beat he failed to find the target with a left footed shot (41.). A Brian Behrendt header wide of the target represented the last chance of the half as the teams went into the break with the deadlock somehow still in tact.Green & White takes over in the second halfIf Rapid had shaded the first half, the second they dominated. Jan Novota remained a spectator for much of the proceedings, and would have been largely impressed by what his team-mates delivered further up the pitch. The first chance opening arrived when Wydra delivered a high quality cross into the penalty area which was met by Boyd, who got a decent header on target but was denied by a good Gebauer save (50.). A bursting run forwards by Marcel Sabitzer resulted in the forward being up ended on the edge of the box. The resulting free kick was taken by Deni Alar, who curled a delightful left footed effort against the underside of the crossbar, Petsos firing the rebound just over (54) as Rapid did everything but score. Barisic brought Louis Schaub into the game in place of Burgstaller (69) and the chance nearly paid instant dividends: a mazy run by the number 10 got him to the by line where he crossed back across the six yard box and found Sabitzer, who blasted the ball goal wards left footed only to see Gebauer pull off a stunning one handed save (72.). With Ried looking out on their feet and offering fading resistance to the incessant Rapid pressure it came as no surprise when the dead lock was finally broken: a quick thrown on from Petsos found Trimmel in space and with the visitors defence unable to organise itself he fed the ball into Sabitzer just inside the penalty, who turned smartly before unleashing an unstoppable low drive that crashed off the foot of the right hand post an into the net - 1:0 and finally the richly deserved breakthrough (75.)!The goal killed off Ried's hopes of escaping Hütteldorf with a point and Rapid sealed a 1:0 victory, playing out the remaining fifteen minutes in a professional manner not giving their opponents a sniff of goal. The scoreline didn't do justice to the Hütteldorfer's performance, but the important three points were secured and bring Rapid back into contention for second place in the tipp3 Bundesliga.(gw)