Rapid Lose Away at Blau-Weiss Linz

After the heavy away defeat with 10-men on Sunday, our team had the opportunity to turn things around quickly with a midweek match. Match Day 27 of the ADMIRAL Bundesliga season saw head coach Robert Klauß's team travel to FC Blau-Weiß Linz. Our head coach was unable to take his place in the dugout due to his fifth yellow card - assistant coach Stefan Kulovits was on the sidelines instead as we chased important points on Wednesday evening. Niki Hedl was back in goal after his red card suspension was overturned, and Louis Schaub wore the captain’s armband as the team took to the field.

The Green & Whites definitely had the better of the opening phase, bossing the possession and winning most of the duels, but no big scoring chances came our way early on. After a cross in from Jonas Auer, Andrija Radulović couldn’t quite control the ball in the box in a situation which could perhaps have led to a penalty (11’), but a little later luck was on our side as Hedl turned a strong shot from the hosts, onto the crossbar (18’). Blau-Weiß then had a spell of attacking pressure, but although we saw off many of their threats, a pass out towards the Rapid defence was picked off and turned in by Ronivaldo for a self-inflicted Rapid deficit. 1-0 to the hosts (24’).

We almost had the right response, when Isak Jansson did well to win back the ball, only for Radulović to shoot against the crossbar, before the Swedish winger turned the rebound over the top (29’). We pushed for the equaliser, but we weren’t able to be dangerous enough in front of goal, and often chances were cleared before the final key pass. After a Bendi Bolla shot was fired off-target, we went in a goal down at the break.

Matthias Seidl and Romeo Amane came out for the second half instead of Louis Schaub and Lukas Grgić (46’). However, the restart could not have gone any worse: After another unfortunate bit of defending, the Linzers had the run of the ball, and Simon Seidl left Niki Hedl with no chance. 2-0 Blau-Weiß (47’). The next chance was ours, but Radulović's strong near-post shot was cleared (49'). Despite a good performance, the game was over for our number 49 shortly afterwards, with Guido Burgstaller coming on in his place (52'). Dion Beljo immediately had our best chance of the match, but after a good piece of interplay with Romeo Amane, his shot was too close to the keeper, and the follow-up was wide (62'). We finally pulled a goal back with just over 15 minutes remaining; Jansson had a bit of fortune as his pass found Romeo Amane, who buried it from the edge of the box for his first competitive goal in Rapid colours! 2-1 (74’). Getting that goal on the board gave us a boost, and the next phase of play belonged to our team, but despite the upswing, we just couldn’t get the ball into the net again for a much-needed equaliser.

After 96 minutes we had to accept another bitter away defeat, but we’ll have the chance for immediate revenge as we take on Blau-Weiß Linz again on home turf on Sunday.

Pictures: GEPA