With two wins over Sturm Graz in the bag and plenty of self belief, Rapid made the journey westwards into rural Austria to take on SCR Altach. Five years had passed since Rapid's last excursion into the Vorarlberg countryside, but those who can remember will know that trips to the Cashpoint-Arena often threw up a variety of twists and turns. This match would prove to be no exception - and unfortunately to our cost.Harsh early red proves decisiveWith under two minutes played Rapid were reduced to ten men: Altach man Seeger knocked the ball beyond Mario Sonnleitner before falling theatrically to the ground, throwing out his leg into Sonnleitner on the way down to convince the referee of an obstruction. Referee Muckenhammer duly obliged, determining that Sonnleitner was the last man and had denied a clear goal scoring opportunity, despite the fact Max Hofmann would still have been shoulder to shoulder with Seeger with every chance of snuffing out any danger. Nonetheless Sonnleitner headed for the changing rooms, leaving his ten remaining team mates facing 88 minutes at a numerical disadvantage.Squad RotationSuspensions and injuries ensured Zoran Barisic would make plenty of changes to his preferred starting line up, with the aforementioned Max Hofmann coming in at centre back to replace birthday boy Christopher Dibon (turned 24 on Sunday) who was nursing a minor knock. In attack, in form Robert Beric was missing through suspension so in came Philipp Prosenik for his full debut in Green & White, whilst a string of midfield absentees including Behrendt, Schwab and Wydra presented an starting opportunity to Srdjan Grahovac. Rapid enjoyed the better of the opening stages despite being a made down, forcing Altach back into their own half, but apart from a Kovacec shot that was comfortably saved by Jan Novota (13.) neither side created any real openings.Goal out of the blueDespite the lack of goal mouth action, a bolt from the blue gave the home side the lead. Just as it looked like another attack had broken down, the ball rolled fortuitously to Roth who unleashed a full blooded first time effort from all of thirty yards that found the top corner giving Jan Novota no chance - 1:0 (25.). The Hütteldorfers responded with a Steffen Hofmann free kick that was turned away by ex-Rapid keeper Lukse, while Louis Schaub and Grahovac both managed to get efforts in on goal in the remainder of the first half.Kainz denied by the width of the postThe second half began with the hosts in the ascendancy: Seeger beat Max Hofmann and got off a shot that went narrowly wide (52.). Christopher Dibon and Dominik Starkl were introduced as Rapid looked to force their way back into proceedings, and in the closing stages their efforts nearly bore fruit: Prosenik almost got on the end of a dangerous Florian Kainz cross, before Kainz himself sent a volley crashing into post in the dying minutes (88.) as Rapid were denied what would have been a hard fought point have played the whole match with ten men. But with Rapid throwing more and more players forward Altach exploited the space as substitute Tajouri scored, his shot going in off the inside of the post. The goal confirmed our frustrating defeat.There was however a final positive to take from the game: Deni Alar came onto the pitch for the final few minutes to mark his comeback from injury. Welcome back Deni!tipico Bundesliga, Match Day 14Altach - SK Rapid 2:0 (1:0)Altach, Cashpoint-Arena, 7.372, Ref MuckenhammerGoals: 1:0 Roth (25.), 2:0 Tajouri-Shradi (88.)Altach: Lukse - Lienhart, Ortiz, Zwischenbrugger, Schreiner - Salomon, Jäger, Roth, Kovacec (72./Tajouri) - Seeger (85./Luxbacher), Aigner (64./Ngwat-Mahop)SK Rapid: Novota - Pavelic (82./Starkl), Sonnleitner, M. Hofmann, Schrammel - Petsos, Grahovac (66./Dibon) - Schaub (89./Alar), F. Kainz - S. Hofmann - ProsenikYellow Cards: Salomon, RothRed Card: Sonnleitner (2./Denying clear goal scoring opportunity)(gw)
02.11.2014