Sturm Graz away is certainly one of the games our supporters look forward to when the fixtures are announced at the start of the season, but on Saturday in the UPC Arena there were four Rapid players in the starting eleven for whom the match contained an extra bit of spice. Ex-Graz man and Summer recruit Stefan Stangl was drafted into the starting line up by Trainer Zoran Barisic at left back, whilst Thomas Schrammel started on the opposite flank. In addition to Stangl, Florian Kainz and Robert Beric were also making their first trip back to Graz having also swapped Styria for the capital in Summer. Another ex-Sturm man Mario Sonnleitner was also in the line up, completing a quartet of players who have swapped Black & White for Green & White.In a packed and hostile stadium a full blooded and emotional game unfolded, with Rapid having the upper hand in the opening proceedings. Florian Kainz was looking lively early on but the first chance of the evening materialised when Stefan Schwab headed narrowly over from a Steffen Hofmann cross (7.). Minutes later an almighty goal mouth scramble ensued, with Mario Sonnleitner amongst those looking to force the ball over the line, but the danger was eventually cleared by the hosts' rearguard when Madl hacked the ball away to safety under intense pressure on his own goal line (11.).Two up and looking goodJust as the game was looking more evenly balanced with both teams attempting to cut out the spaces and shore up the defensive thirds, the Hütteldorfers found the breakthrough. Good wing play from Flo Kainz saw the ball eventually laid back to Stangl, whose first time cross was met by Stefan Schwab, who generated an incredible amount of power on his header, guiding the ball from between the edge of the box and the penalty spot into the top right hand corner - 1:0 (36.). It was a goal of real quality from Schwab who used all of his imposing frame to rise tall above the flailing Graz defenders and beat Christian Gratzei all ends up with a bullet header. Just before half time the Green & Whites doubled their lead as yet another ex-Graz man was heavily involved: a long ball forwards was flicked into Robert Beric's path by Thanos Petsos, who shrugged off a challenge from Spendlhofer before beating Madl to the punch by slamming a low drive off the far left hand post and into the net, giving Gratzei no chance despite the acute angle - 2:0 (43.)!Graz hit backWhatever Zoran Barisic may have said to his troops during the half time team talk appeared to have been in vain, as just two minutes after the restart Graz found a much needed repost: a quick turnover of possession allowed Sturm to isolate Stangl one on one with Torsten Schick, the Graz man utilizing his pace to go past his marker before beating Novota with a powerful low strike - 2:1 and Graz back in the match (47.). Sturm began to present a different proposition to that of the first half, but Rapid held firm whilst continuing to offer an attacking threat, as highlighted by Schaub's 58th minute attempt that had Gratzei scrambling but only found the outside of the net.Novota and Dibon decide the outcomeThen came a five minute spell that would ultimately decide the contest. Firstly, Jan Novota did superbly to deny Tadic an equaliser, cutting down the angle and space for a shot after a scything through ball had split the Rapid defence and put Tadic through on goal (60.). Just minutes later the Viennese had restored their two goal lead: a free kick from the right hand side of the pitch, half way in the Sturm half was whipped into the box by the left foot of Stefan Schwab and met by Christopher Dibon, who out-jumped numerous markers to head the ball back across Gratzei and claim his first Bundesliga goal of the season - 3:1 (66.)! It was a long overdue goal for the ever dangerous Dibon who had come so close to opening his account in the previous away fixture in Ried. Despite the best efforts of the home side, Rapid were in no mood to give their opponents another sniff in the game and went on to close out the match in a professional manner that will have delighted Barisic. The Rapid Trainer would have been less amused, however, to see goal hero Beric depart proceedings early after picking up a second yellow during an aerial duel. Beric had earlier picked up a first yellow card for an apparently overzealous celebration after his goal in front of the Sturm fans and will now miss next weeks trip to Altach. However, the sending off did little to take away the gloss from an excellent away day victory.  Trainer Zoran Barisic: "It was an exciting and tense game. It was a decent performance although we rode our luck a little at the start of the second half and could have conceded an equaliser. We'll need to analyse today's game in depth ahead of Wednesday’s Cup match."tipico Bundesliga, Match Day 13SK Sturm - SK Rapid 1:3 (0:2)Graz, UPC-Arena, 14.350 Attendance, Ref SchüttengruberGoals: 0:1 Schwab (36.), 0:2 Beric (44.), 1:2 Schick (48.), 1:3 Dibon (67.)SK Sturm Graz: Gratzei - Ehrenreich, Madl, Spendlhofer, Klem - Piesinger (46./Tadic), Hadzic (87./Lovric) - Schick, Offenbacher (79./Gruber), Beichler - M. StankovicSK Rapid: Novota - Schrammel, Sonnleitner, Dibon, Stangl - Petsos, Schwab - Schaub (86./Starkl), S. Hofmann (64./Grahovac), F. Kainz (91./Pavelic) - BericYellow Cards: Piesinger, Schick Schwab, Stangl, GrahovacRed Card (second yellow): Beric (86.)(gw)