Eastern Styrians pull off a surprise

LIVE: Rapid trails 0-1 against Hartberg

A picture that says more than a thousand green-and-white words...(Bild: GEPA)

SK Rapid likely squandered its last real chance at the soccer championship title today! The Hütteldorf side, now winless in four matches, lost 0-2 at home to Hartberg due to goals by Jürgen Heil (34') and Elias Havel (82'), as well as a missed penalty by Bendeguz Bolla (23'), and now sit in fourth place, four points behind the current leader Salzburg with four rounds remaining. The Styrians, on the other hand, moved past Vienna’s Austria to fifth place.

For Hartberg, coach Manfred Schmid—suspended for the Rapid match and sitting in the stands—caused a stir just before kickoff by announcing that he would not be renewing his contract, which expires at the end of the season. Shortly thereafter, in front of 18,420 spectators, Schmid’s squad emerged as the lucky winners, as the hosts squandered several golden opportunities, particularly in the first half.

After a pass from Nikolaus Wurmbrand, Andreas Weimann shot wide from about ten meters out (18th minute), and Hartberg goalkeeper Tom Hülsmann was on hand to punch away a free kick from Matthias Seidl (20th minute). Three minutes later, Petter Nosa Dahl went down just inside the box after a duel with Luca Pazourek; Bolla sent the resulting penalty kick just wide of the left corner. Things got dangerous again when a deflected shot by Wurmbrand rolled just past the near post (32').

Hartberg struck with their first attack
Under constant pressure, Hartberg took the leadwiththeirfirstnotable offensive move. Heil slipped a pass to Nenad Cvetkovic in the penalty area, who beat goalkeeper Niklas Hedl; Kouadio Ahoussou’s attempt to clear the ball was unsuccessful. Rapid continued to press against the TSV defense; Ercan Karas’s header hit the post (39th minute).

The former Austrian national team striker also had the first good chance after the break, but this time his header was saved by Hülsmann (56'). The home side continued to push TSV back into defense, but concrete chances remained scarce, with the exception of a Kara header that Hülsmann was ready to stop (78'). The visitors proved far more efficient. Havel, who had come on as a substitute shortly before, easily outpaced the Rapid defense on a counterattack and calmly slotted home the decisive goal.

With this result, Hartberg remained unbeaten in their eighth consecutive away league match; their last away loss came on September 28 of last year, a 0-1 defeat at Sturm Graz. Additionally, TSV extended their impressive away record against Rapid—in twelve Bundesliga appearances at the Allianz Stadium, the East Styrians have won six times, with three losses and three draws. Against no other Bundesliga team do the Green-Whites have such a poor home record.

The result:
SK Rapid – TSV Hartberg 0–2 (0–1)
Vienna, Allianz Stadium, 18,420 spectators, referee Ebner

Goals: 0–1 (34.) Heil, 0–2 (82.) Havel

Yellow cards: Amane, Cvetkovic, Gulliksen, Antiste

Rapid: Hedl – Cvetkovic, Raux-Yao, Ahoussou (70. Gulliksen) – Bolla, M. Seidl, Amane (81. Antiste), Wurmbrand (70. Y. Demir) – Dahl (81. Auer), Kara, Weimann
Hartberg: Hülsmann – Kovacevic (77. Aziz), Wilfinger, Spendlhofer, Coulibaly, Pazourek – Heil, Markus, Kainz (77. Hennig) – Hoffmann (63. Havel), Fridrikas (92. Ojukwu)