Jelic wins it at the death

Following Wednesday night's energy sapping cup win over Amstetten, Bundesliga action was back on the agenda on Saturday as Rapid travelled westwards to take on SV Ried in the Keine Sorgen Arena. Zoran Barisic again opted for rotation as he looks to guide his squad through this testing busy period, making no less than seven changes to the eleven that took to the field on Wednesday.

Schobesberger rattles the bar

Recent clashes between Ried and Rapid have been dominated in recent years by the Hütteldorfers, who have won the last seven in a row, including the last three away games. However, on Saturday the Green & Whites came up against a determined and focussed home side, and taking the points back to Vienna proved to be a monumental undertaking. Rapid might have had an easier afternoon of it had Philipp Schobesberger's early effort gone in: capitalising on a poor defensive header from a Ried defender, Schobesberger took the ball under control in one touch before firing off a thunderous effort that crashed into the underside of the crossbar with Ried keeper Gebauer well and truly beaten. The rebound fell to Philipp Prosenik, but the young striker couldn't get over the ball and his attempted shot cleared the bar by some margin (15.).

Up until the half hour point the home side had failed to roam much beyond the half way line with Jan Novota, restored in goal after being rested against Amstetten, little more than a spectator. Finally Oliver Kragl worked our Slovak stopper with a low free kick from just outside the box, but Novota was more than equal to the task, comfortably saving the ball and pushing it away from the danger area (30.). Rapid were on top in the game, but with the home side adopting a fairly negative approach and sitting in deep in their own half, space in the attacking third was virtually non-existent and the Hütteldorfers struggled to find a way through. Rapid’s final chance of the half fell to Prosenik but he failed to make contact with a dangerous low cross from Philipp Schobesberger (37.).

The Rapid spirit shines through

Chances were exchanged at the beginning of the second half, as the game opened up just a little: firstly Möschl cleared Novota's crossbar with a shot from a decent position (53.); before Mario Pavelic saw a rasping drive from the edge of the box brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Gebauer (55.). With Rapid not and their best and Wednesday evening’s match still evidently in their legs, a midfield battle ensued, with the Hütteldorfers having to dig deep and fight to stay in a game that Ried were slowly getting on top of.

With just over ten minutes to play it looked like Ried would snatch the victory: with Rapid caught short on numbers at the back, substitute Gavilan played Möschl in on Novota, but with only the keeper to beat Möschl strangled his shot, much to the relief of the travelling Viennese, pulling his effort from the penalty spot wide of the left hand post (80.). Having passed up a glorious opportunity to win the match, there would then be a Green & White sting in the tail for the hosts: a corner deep into injury time was taken by substitute Deni Alar, swung into the near post area where it was met by fellow sub Matej Jelic, who brilliantly muscled in between three Ried defenders to get his head on the ball and turn it into the back of the net at the near post - 0:1 (92.)!

The delight was evident, particularly for Jelic, who wheeled away, sliding on his knees before being mobbed by his ecstatic teammates. Rapid had overcome a battle on Wednesday, and they had won through again in a hard fought match on Saturday. The Rapid spirit is alive and well!  All in all it was an excellent victory for Rapid that keeps them top of the pile in the Bundesliga. The Green & Whites busy schedule now continues into next week: on Wednesday Rapid fly to Minsk looking to build on victory over Villarreal in front of the eyes of Europe as Europa League action.

(gw)