Super Rapid march into semi-finals

The settings and opposition were familiar on Wednesday night: after drawing 1:1 in St. Pölten on the weekend, Rapid returned to the NV-Arena to take on the same opponents in the quarter finals of the ÖFB-Samsung-Cup. 1600 Rapid fans packed into the away end, with pockets of hundreds and hundreds of Green & White followers again dotted around the other stands. With the promise of coming a step closer to silverware hanging in the air, Damir Canadi's side desperately needed to buck their recent league form.

There were three changes to the starting lineup that took to the field on the previous Saturday: Max Wöber came in for Mario Sonnleitner who was out with a cold; whilst Thomas Murg and Stephan Auer came into the side at the expense of Steffen Hofmann and Gio Kvilitaia. In addition to coming a step closer to lifting silverware, a victory in the Cup would represent Rapid’s last chance to secure European football for next season.

The Hütteldorfers stepped on to the pitch brimming with confidence and self-belief, as if the change of competitions had lifted the proverbial monkeys off their backs: a long range shot from Stefan Schwab flew wide of target (7.), as did a shot from Thomas Murg (14.). Rapid were hammering at the St. Pölten door, craving the all-important breakthrough - and it duly arrived: a swift passing move was set in motion by Thomas Murg and Joelinton, with ball being fed wide to Mario Pavelic; the right back's cross into the back post picked out the run of Max Wöber, who stabbed the ball back in the direction it came and into the far corner - 1:0 (17.) and Rapid’s excellent start to the match had been rewarded!

Canadi's troops - now with their tails up - continued to push for a second, with the shell-shocked hosts unable to muster anything by way of an attacking response. Tamas Szanto had a goal chalked off after Joelinton was adjudged to have fouled the home side’s goalkeeper in the build-up (26.). Just over ten minutes later it looked as though the second had finally arrived: Joelinton did well to control the ball and create some space to shoot, before firing the ball against the bar from a tight angle (37.). The ball sprang back into play with Thomas Schrammel hammering the rebound just over the bar to round off the first half goal mouth action.  

The pattern of the game changed little in the second half: The Green & Whites continued to boss proceedings, with the home side clinging on in the hope of grabbing a goal from somewhere. A deflected Mario Pavelic shot that went just inches wide of the post ushered in the start of the chances in the second half (52.), but if any reminder was needed of setbacks in recent weeks, one was served up by St. Pölten's Thürauer, who shot just wide and could've levelled proceedings completely against the run of play. Stefan Schwab then twice tried his luck, firstly with a header that went just over (57.), then with a cheeky back heel that was stopped by Vollnhofer (64.).

With the margin of lead still dangerously narrow, Perchtold again showed that the tie was far from dead, as he drew a smart stop from Tobias Knoflach (70.). But just minutes later Mario Pavelic eased Rapid nerves and broke St. Pölten hearts: with his first touch of the ball substitute Gio Kvilitaia rolled the ball into space in the right-hand side of the St. Pölten box where it was met by the on-rushing Mario Pavelic, who produced a sweet low finish into the far corner in the mode of a striker to all but seal a semi-final berth for Rapid - 2:0 (73.)! As the game moved into the final ten minutes Rapid notched a third to put some gloss on their victory: another substitute, Steffen Hofmann, laid the ball off to Joelinton, with the Brazilian firing a teasing low cross across the face of the goalmouth.

Stefan Schwab was on hand to slam the ball home from close range and send the mighty travelling support into ecstasy - 3:0 (82.). The home side did manage a late consolation to reduce arrears to 1:3, but the tie was done and Rapid were left to celebrate both having secured a semi-final berth as well as the first victory of the calendar year! Hopefully this match can represent the start of a Rapid resurgence. However, a stern test of the Green & Whites’ new found confidence awaits on the weekend as Rapid travel to the Innviertel to take on SV Ried.

(gw)