Unsurprisingly Rapid went into the game against Sturm with both ex-Graz players in the Hütteldorfer starting line up. Having scored against Admira, Florian Kainz earned himself a starting berth with Robert Beric again leading the line. Sightly more surprising was that Philipp Schobesberger had sufficiently recovered from injury to take his place on the bench.Taking the initiativeFollowing a slow start to the game it was Rapid who first seized the initiative. With the support of a healthy 16,800 strong crowd inside the Ernst-Happel-Stadium efforts on goal began to arrive: Mario Pavelic firstly fired wide of the target, before Thanos Petsos unleashed a long range rocket that had Christian Grazei in the visitors goal scrambling (21.). The best chance of the half fell to Beric, who was played in on Grazei by an expert pass from Wydra, but the finish was lacking and the Graz keeper comfortably saved with his chest (24.). Shortly afterwards Graz man Daniel Offenbacher lunged in twice in quick succession, earning himself a deserved red card and handing Rapid the numerical advantage (32.). Beric's chance proved to be the best of the half and the deadlock remained in tact as the whistle blew for the half time.Beric in the goals...Straight from the kick off Rapid put together a fluid passing move that lead to the breakthrough: Steffen Hofmann spread the ball wide to Thomas Schrammel, the left back in turn swung an inviting first time cross into the box towards Beric who had timed his run perfectly and slammed a header into the back of the net at the near post - 1:0 (49.)! Zoran Barisic's team remained the dominant force in the game following the goal, but worryingly the last pass was often missing as they failed to capitalise on their dominance against a Sturm side that had to this point shown few signs of life....but his afternoon ends earlyAs the game went into the final twenty minutes a couple of scenes unfolded that would decide the result. Firstly, Rapid came within inches of going two goals up and surely securing the win when a beautiful Steffen Hofmann free kick crashed into the crossbar the rebound fell to Mario Sonnleitner who was just unable to control his header (72.). Then Hofmann was upended by an agricultural challenge, a melee unfolded in which Robert Beric pushed a Graz player, who then fall to the floor in dramatic fashion. Referee Schüttengruber showed Beric a straight red for his involvement in this handbags at twenty paces incident, although what looked like an attempted head-butt on Hofmann by a Graz player went unpunished. Minutes later Schmerböck nearly equalised for the Styrians, but his left footed finish just five yards from goal was kept out by a wonderful reflex save from Jan Novota (79.). However just minutes later Novota was powerless as Graz equalised following sloppy play by Rapid: an attempt to play out from the back by Thanos Petsos was cut out in a dangerous area by Schmerböck and quickly worked to Djuricin, who was in oceans of space in the left hand side of the penalty area and had no trouble steadying himself before finishing through Novota's legs - 1:1 (82.). It was a disappointing way to surrender two points for Rapid, who were unable to create another serious opening in the remaining minutes.Trainer Zoran Barisic: "Its definitely two points lost again. The team played fantastically, but doesn't get to enjoy the fruits of their labours. We weren't clever enough when we conceded, but apart from that I can't criticise my players."tipico Bundesliga, Match Day 4SK Rapid - Sturm Graz 1:1 (0:0)Ernst-Happel-Stadium, 16.800 Attendance, Ref SchüttengruberGoals: 1:0 (49.) Beric, 1:1 (82.) DjuricinSK Rapid: Novota - Pavelic (60. Behrendt), Sonnleitner, Dibon, Schrammel - Petsos, Wydra (84. Alar) - Schaub (79. Schobesberger), S. Hofmann, F. Kainz - BericSturm Graz: Gratzei - Todorovski, Spendlhofer, Madl, Klem - Offenbacher, Hadzic (86. Piesinger) - Schloffer (60. Schmerböck), Stankovic, Beichler - DjuricinYellow Card: Sonnleitner, Petsos, Dibon, Beric, Schobesberger, Behrendt Djuricin, Beichler, Hadzic, PiesingerSecond Yellow Card: Offenbacher (31./Repeated Fouling)Straight Red Card: Beric (76./Violent Behaviour)(gw)
09.08.2014