Rapid Suffer Loss against Blau-Weiss Linz

After a team performance full of passion last Thursday in Portugal, the Green & Whites went to Upper Austria on Sunday. For match day four of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga season, the Hütteldorfers played host to BW Linz in the so-called steel city. Head coach Robert Klauß made a few changes from Thursday's game, with Benny Böckle, Max Hofmann, Louis Schaub and Christoph Lang moving into the starting line-up. Jonas Auer had to miss out due to illness, with Dominic Vincze traveling to Linz to replace him. The aim of the game was to build on the good performances and positive momentum of recent weeks, but unfortunately things didn't work out as planned.

The Rapid fans who had made the journey saw a high-pressing game from both sides right from the start, in which Niki Hedl had to intervene early to save a shot from former Rapid player Martin Moormann (3’). Just a few moments later, our forwards got their first taste of the ball, with Dion Beljo stretching to meet a free kick from Matthias Seidl but heading too centrally to beat the keeper (5’). Soon, it was the hosts who were celebrating: Blau-Weiß took full advantage of a misplaced pass from within our ranks, finished off the situation that was presented to them, and took a 1-0 lead (18'). It served as some kind of wake-up call, because just two minutes later Bendi Bolla combined well with Matti Seidl in front of goal, but the home keeper got his hands in the way (20'). Instead of finding a leveller, after just under 30 minutes, BW Linz increased their lead to 2-0 (29'). Rapid pressed to pull one back, but despite several good opportunities, including one from Dion Beljo, it was not to be in the remainder of the first half.

We started the second 45 minutes with a double substitution, Isak Jansson and Moritz Oswald came on for captain Matti Seidl and Mama Sangaré (46'). Our team wanted to get back into the game, but Blau-Weiß simply didn't allow us a chance to get back into the game: just six minutes after the restart, the ball ended up in our net again, but fortunately the goal didn't count due to a handball (51'). However, the next bitter blow came in the 60th minute, when the scoreboard read 3-0. Dangerous opportunities on our side were few and far between in the second half, with Isak Jansson once again making good progress but stumbling at the final hurdle (79'). That was to be our last action of note.

After 96 minutes, the final whistle sounded on what was a day to forget in Linz. Now it's time to analyse, clear our heads and attack again on Thursday. We move on!

Fotos: GEPA