A fair draw

Wolfsberger AC vs Rapid – LIVE from 5pm

(Bild: GEPA)

SK Rapid missed out on at least a temporary jump to first place in the Bundesliga on Saturday! The team from Hütteldorf had to settle for a 1-1 away draw against WAC, leaving them second in the table, one point ahead of third-placed Wolfsberg and one point behind Sturm Graz. The champions visit Vienna Austria on Sunday. League debutant Nikolaus Wurmbrand gave Rapid the lead (30'), Dejan Zukic equalized (51').

There were few highlights on the sodden pitch in the early stages, with the penalty area scenes only becoming more frequent after around 20 minutes. Zukic tested Rapids goalkeeper Niklas Hedl with a free-kick (21'), while at the other end a goal by Dion Beljo was disallowed due to the Croatian being marginally offside (24').

Six minutes later, the 18-year-old Wurmbrand made his grand entrance. Rapid launched a counter-attack, Mamadou Sangare released the striker, who outpaced Nicolas Wimmer and beat keeper Nikolas Polster with a shot into the near corner. Wurmbrand added his name to the scoresheet in the first senior match of his career.

In the 33rd minute, the ÖFB youth team player also set up a perfect scoring opportunity for Louis Schaub. Wurmbrand won a one-on-one battle with Dominik Baumgartner and laid the ball off for Schaub, but the ex-Germany international struck the aluminum from close range.

This missed set-piece was to take its revenge after the break. The WAC came out of the break with a lot of momentum and initially looked for their salvation in long-range shots before Zukic struck. The Serbian danced past the Rapid defense after an assist from Ervin Omic and slotted the ball into the far corner.

After that, an open exchange of blows developed. Both teams played to win, but often lacked the necessary precision with the final pass. There were no more really compelling chances, the most dangerous being a header from Nenad Cvetkovic just wide of the goal (83') and a chance from Markus Pink (86') that was defused by Hedl.

The result:
Wolfsberger AC - SK Rapid 1:1 (0:1)
Wolfsberg, Lavanttal-Arena, 3368 spectators, referee Gishamer

Goals: 0:1 (30') Wurmbrand, 1:1 (51') Zukić

Yellow cards: Atanga or Sangare, Kaygin

WAC: Polster - Jasic, Baumgartner (63. Diabate), Wimmer, Ullmann (82. Matic) - Omic (77. Nwaiwu), Piesinger - Gattermayer (62. Pink), Zukic, Ballo - Atanga

Rapid: N. Hedl - Bolla, Cvetkovic, Raux-Yao, Auer - Schaub (74. Kaygin), Sangare (91. Oswald), Lu. Grgic, M. Seidl - Wurmbrand (74. T. Hedl), Beljo