Hosts caught rapid as Hoops claim point in Vienna
Shamrock Rovers preserved their unbeaten run in the UEFA Conference League with a superb second-half performance against Rapid Vienna, with Johnny Kenny's 55th-minute equaliser securing an unlikely draw.
The result, coming against a side who had won their opening three games, virtually guarantees that Rovers will become the first Irish side to reach the knockout phase of a European competition, garnering the club €5 million in total prize money for the season.
A point was a highly unlikely prospect at half-time, when even keeping the score at 1-0 would have seemed a reasonable achievement.
Playing in their away lilac strip, Rovers did have an early half-chance before the hosts settled into their groove.
On a quick counter, Neil Farrugia picked up the ball in his own half and drove at the retreating defence, slipping a through ball for the run of Kenny. The striker was beyond the last defender but his second touch took him too far wide and his weak shot dribbled past the near post.
This was as good as it got for Rovers in the first half hour, and they were hemmed in on a more or less full-time basis for the next 30 minutes.
It took the hosts just under nine minutes to hit the front, and there were a couple of warnings before that.
After four minutes, some neat interplay teed up Matthias Seidl, whose low drive from 25 yards rebounded off the far post.
Two minutes later, Mamadou Sangare's dipping, perhaps deflected, shot from the edge of the box clanged off the crossbar, with the stranded Leon Pohls a mere spectator.
Things looked ominous for Rovers at the point and, sure enough, Rapid were soon ahead in rapid order.
A corner was curled into the near post, Darragh Burns rose but his header only sent the ball looping into the air.
Raux Yao won the aerial tussle for the second ball, cushioning a header in the direction of his centre-half partner Nenad Cvetkovic, who, facing away from goal, executed a technically perfect volley on the swivel, rifling his shot past Pohls.
Nenad Cvetkovic put Rapid in front
They almost doubled the lead within minutes, as Beljo found space in the box. The Croatian was overly jumpy, however, and, shooting on the turn, he shanked the ball hopelessly wide of the far post.
The visitors' determination to play out from the back led to issues as they were continually harried and boxed in by the Rapid press.
Shortly before the 20 minute mark, Burns prevented a second when a cross to the near post ricocheted in the direction of the unmarked Seidl on the edge of the six-yard box. The striker controlled on his chest and tried an acrobatic finish but Burns blocked from close range.
Kenny was booked on the half-hour mark for standing on Cjetkovic's shin after the centre-half won a race for possession.
The Austrians continued to probe. Seidl's cross from the left was headed away by Roberto Lopes but only as far as the unmarked right-back Bolla, who ripped a half-volley just past the far post.
The half-time whistle came as a relief, though at that stage it appeared that keeping the score down was the summit of their ambition.
Video technology came to Rovers' rescue in the early minutes of the second half.
Burgstaller and Seidl attempted a one-two on the edge of the box, Gary O'Neill intercepting the return, the ref abruptly pointing to the penalty spot for handball by the Rovers midfielder. As the Hoops players set about protesting the call, Lopes calmed things down in the knowledge that VAR would make the call.
As replays indicated the ball connected with O'Neill's torso rather than his arm, the ref scampered over to the monitor for a second look.
O'Neill wasn't inclined to give the ref too much kudos for reversing his decision. The cameras captured him mouthing the phrase 'so bad' after the official signalled no pen.
And then out of almost nothing, Rovers were level on 55 minutes.
After the home side had another weak penalty claim refused at one end, when Burgstaller flopped in the box after minimal contact from Lopes, Rovers mounted a brisk counter.
Lopes sprayed a pass infield to Dylan Watts, he fed Neil Farrugia, who knocked the ball wide to Josh Honohan. The full-back drove down the flank with purpose, throwing a stepover before drilling in a pinpoint low cross. Kenny had to arrange his feet quickly to connect with his in-step, diverting the ball just inside the far post from inside the six yard box. Cue an explosion of noise from the away corner of the stadium.
Initially, Rapid were stung into action and almost scored a few minutes later, Beljo meeting a corner inside the six-yard box and heading off the crossbar.
Past the hour mark, the home crowd started to get agitated and as Pohls took his sweet time with the contact, a coin was pegged in his direction, enabling the keeper the chance to delay the game for even longer.
Down on the touchline, Stephen Bradley pointed at his temple and liked what he was seeing.
As the shrill whistles from the hosts greeted every break in play, further Rovers players went in the book, Poom for contesting a decision too vigorously and then Pohls, perhaps inevitably, for time-wasting on a goal-kick.
Entering the final 10 minutes, it seemed as likely that Rovers might steal a winner as the hosts would knock the door down. The assurance of Rapid's first half play was replaced with a hurried raggedness.
Kenny had a big chance when the hosts fluffed a quick throw-in near their own penalty box while the goalkeeper was loitering away from his line. The loose ball fell to Kenny on the left edge of the penalty box, with most of the far post to aim at as the keeper scampered back.
The striker's side-footed effort was misdirected somewhat towards the near post. Still, this almost wrong-footed the keeper, who having rushed back, saved awkardly with his body, the ball squirting just wide for what was Rovers first corner of the game on 79 minutes.
The Sligo man did much better with his next opportunity with five minutes remaining. Lee Grace nonchalantly sprayed a half-volley in the direction of Kenny, who controlled it beautifully and turned his marker in one sweeping movement and sped past him on the outside, tearing towards goal.
Stephen Bradley salutes away support
With no support, he drove inside the penalty box and fired a low shot towards the near post, which Niklas Hedl saved with his foot.
The six minutes of injury time were nerve-jangling. The late substitutes combined on 91 minutes, Wurmbrand somehow turning past Honohan down the end-line on the left, poking the ball inside for the run of Bischof, who attempted to steer it inside Pohls near post but the keeper was alert and made a fine reaction save.
Dan Cleary was harshly booked - the sixth Rovers player to see yellow - for rightly contesting a call after Bischof deceived the ref with a dive on the edge of the box. It was all teed up for a familiar heartbreaker but the free-kick was over the bar.
The Austrians, thoroughly frustrated, appeared resigned to a draw now and Rovers saw out the final few minutes to claim a famous point.
At full-time, Rapid manager Robert Klauss, filled with admiration with Rovers' style of play beforehand, appeared less enamoured with his visitors, as he remonstrated angrily with Bradley, the reported cause being the appearance of a second ball on the pitch in injury-time, apparently thrown from the crowd.
The smiling Hoops manager didn't appear too perturbed as his side head back to Dublin with another vital point, having now accumulated eight in four games.
Rapid Vienna: Niklas Hedl, Bendeguz Bolla, Nenad Cvetkovic, Serge-Phillipe Raux Yao, Jonas Auer, Mamadou Sangare, Lukas Grgic, Louis Schaub (Dennis Kaygin, 67), Matthias Seidl, Dion Drena Beljo, Guido Burgstaller (Noah Bischof, 67).
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Lee Grace, Pico Lopes, Dan Cleary; Josh Hohohan, Darragh Burns, Gary O'Neill (Darragh Nugent, 76), Markus Poom, Dylan Watts; Neil Farrugia, Johnny Kenny.
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