Rapid Vienna celebrate somewhat lucky win in St. Pölten – football

Only a little over 1,500 spectators were there, although 2,000 should have been able to enter the NV Arena. But SKN currently only sells subscriptions for three games.

The superior game (second against third) was accelerated immediately. Dor Hugy led the “Wolves” to the lead with their first big chance in the 5th minute. The new Israeli acquisition used a cross pass from former Austrian Michael Blauensteiner. Too late for Hugy it was Mateo Barac, of all people, who was allowed to replace the ailing Leo Greiml at Rapid. Coach Didi Kühbauer had decided on the Croatian and against Mario Sonnleitner, because Barac, as a left-hander, could play better on the left half than Sonnleitner on his right foot. However, Barac started St. Pölten’s scoring attack with a bad pass. After a quarter of an hour, the former SKN Taxi Fountas striker also achieved a 1: 1 tie for Rapid. Dejan Ljubicic had served him well on the edge of the area and Fountas threw the ball gracefully into the cross corner. Less than two minutes later, Thomas Murg launched a penalty against SKN goalkeeper Christoph Riegler, which Ercan Kara used to give Hütteldorfer a 2-1 lead.

Until the break there were no more goals, but there were dangerous scenes on both sides. Fast keeper Christoph Strebinger was once on the point with a sharp-angle shot from Kofi Schulz (37th) and shone with a Hugy free kick, which he served from Kreuzeck (39th). On Rapidler’s side, Kara couldn’t use a great pass from Kelvin Arase, St. Pölten’s Ahmed Muhamedbegovic was able to deflect the shot and the ball bounced off the crossbar and into the goal (40th). Then Riegler disabled a free throw from Murg (42nd).

After the break, Lukas Grozurek made his home debut with St. Pölten, coach Ibertsberger signed him to the committed but hapless Marcel Tanzmayr. The sibling duel between Robert and Dejan Ljubicic ended in the 50th minute as the older Dejan had to leave the field with a groin problem. He passed the lasso from the Rapid captain to Maximilian Hofmann. For Ljubicic, Kühbauer brought in Srdan Grahovac and Rapid made the game more and more defensive. SKN increased their possession, but could not create a scoring opportunity for a long time. Until Hugy rounded a cross over independent Schmidt in the 72nd minute, who managed only a mildly durable header. In the 77th minute Strebinger was able to clear Hugy’s shot from close range with his foot. A great parade! A little later Ullmann Riegler caused only slight problems with a shot, the SKN goalkeeper cleared the ball in pursuit. In the final stages, Kara had three chances to extend Rapids’ lead. In minute 82 he acted with too much indecision, in 84 he put the ball past the far angle and in 87 he found his champion in Riegler with a shot from the edge of the area, which made another great save. and cleared the corner, which then brought nothing. The Rapidler then more or less skillfully subtracted the four-minute stoppage time.

SKN St. Pölten – Rapid Vienna 1: 2 (1: 2)

S t. Pölten, NV Arena, 1,563 SR: Christian-Petru Ciochirca

Goals sequence: 1-0 Hugy (6th), 1: 1 Fountas (15th), 1: 2 Kara (17th penalty kick)

SKN St. Pölten: Riegler – Blauensteiner, Muhamedbegovic, Maranda, K. Schulz (84th Steinwendner) – Schütz (72nd Luxbacher), Pokorny, R. Ljubicic – Tanzmayr (46th Grozurek), A. Schmidt, Hugy

Rapid Wien: Strebinger – Stojkovic, M. Hofmann, Barac, Ullmann – Petrovic, D. Ljubicic (50. Grahovac), Murg (80. Sonnleitner) – Fountas (80. Kitagawa), Kara, Arase (62. Demir)

Yellow cards: Muhamedbegovic (27th foul), Schulz (60th foul), R. Ljubicic (94th unsportsmanlike nature) or M. Hofmann (38th critical), Stojkovic (66th fourteen), Ullmann (85th foul)

The best: Schütz, Hugy or Strebinger, Fountas, Kara