Green & Whites come away from Carinthia empty-handed

SK Rapid traveled to Carinthia on Sunday to take on the Bundesliga’s form-team, namely Wolfsberger AC. A tough match was sure to be in store for the Green and Whites given the recent run of victories for WAC, but the Lavanttal Arena has been a fairly happy hunting ground in the last few seasons, with 8-1 and 4-3 wins for our boys bringing some good memories from the last two meetings at the venue. The aim for matchday 14 was to put the midweek defeat in Zagreb behind us, and collect three points on Rapid’s return to domestic action.

Following a flurry of debuts on Thursday evening, the starting XI looked a little more familiar for Sunday’s game, albeit with a few new faces getting the nod: Pauli Gartler was in goal, Filip Stojkovic, Maxi Hofmann and Emanuel Aiwu were joined by Jonas Auer in the back four, Srdjan Grahovac and Christoph Knasmüllner made up the defensive midfield, Thorsten Schick, Taxi Fountas and Marco Grüll started further up, and Ercan Kara was once again the lone-striker.

With the ball rolling, both teams immediately showed that they wanted to seize the initiative, yet early forays forwards led to nothing at either end of the field. A strange moment with a faulty floodlight threatened to delay the game (8’), but once that issue was solved, the first shots on goal began to arrive. Liendl had a go for the hosts on his fabled left foot, but his 25-yard effort wasn’t accurate enough (10’), before we got our first real shot away when Knasmüllner was picked out at the back post following Auer’s cross. He laid the ball back to a well-placed Schick, but under some pressure, the final shot flew narrowly off-target (16’).

 Just as we were finding our feet in the game, Rapid fell behind. WAC linked up down the right, leaving Dieng open to square the ball across goal and find Jasic to tap-in the opener. 1-0 (22’). The team tried to put that setback behind them and went in search of a quick leveler; Kara set up a good chance for Auer who had burst forward on the left, but as he took aim from inside the area, his finish ended up over the bar on the near side of the goal (28’). Soon after, the tough task got even harder. A cross was whipped towards the back post by the home team, and once that was headed back across goal, Gugganig was in position to nod the ball in from point-blank range. 2-0 (31’). 

Before Robin Dutt’s side had even settled from their celebrations, Rapid were back in the contest! Grüll’s corner was flicked on at the near post for Aiwu to control with his chest, take a defender out of the game, and lash in to reduce the deficit. 2-1 (33’)! Buoyed by the quick response, Rapid came forward again. Fountas thought that he had equalised, but was denied by an offside call (36’), and then Kara turned in the box and shot dangerously, only to see Baumgartner get a crucial touch and force the ball wide (37’). As the half time whistle neared, Schick crossed for Fountas who couldn’t quite squeeze the ball in after getting in behind his marker (42’), but the news would get worse when WAC made Rapid pay for the missed chances; Dieng was played through, and with the last action of the half he used his pace to get into the area and slot the ball into the corner for 3-1 (45’).

The second half looked like an uphill struggle for the Green & Whites on paper, and Thierno Ballo came on for Knasmüllner as Head Coach Didi Kühbauer looked to mix things up from the off. The hosts, with their two-goal advantage, looked comfortable playing on the counter once the game was underway again, and they threatened on the break several times in the early stages. Aiwu had to make a brilliant interception inside the six-yard box to deny Dieng another goal (56’), before our first sign of life came from Fountas, who miscued an initial effort from the edge of the box and then smashed the ball low at the second attempt, although Kofler in the WAC goal was able to get down for the save (58’).

Rather than rallying from the first chance of the half, Rapid fell further behind. The ball was given away as we tried to commit men forward, and Baumgartner was able to drive ahead and pass to Peretz on the right of the area. His strike continued the trend of efficiency in the area from WAC, as he placed the ball into the corner well away from Gartler to make it 4-1. (63’). With that, the result was all but decided.

Kelvin Arase and Moritz Oswald came on for the Green & Whites (69’), yet nothing could unseat WAC from their advantage, and the hosts began to dominate possession and shut up shop. Rapid couldn’t create any meaningful chances in the closing period, and the only moment of note late on was that Oliver Strunz got a run out for a few minutes in place of Kara (90’). 

A disappointing evening ended in a deserved defeat, as Rapid were punished for too many inaccurate passes and defensive mistakes. It’s not the way we wanted to go into the international break, but at least there’s some time to regroup before we go again in the Bundesliga with an important game at home against SCR Altach on November 20th. 

Fotos: GEPA