Sunday, March 14, 2010

Hertha Berlin 1-2 Nurnberg


Hertha Berlin suffered a huge blow to their hopes of avoiding relegation as they went down to a stoppage-time defeat.

Theofanis Gekas gave Hertha the lead in the 36th minute but the Europa League side could not take advantage of their chances and Albert Bunjaku equalised after 61 minutes.

And Nurnberg shocked Berlin in the final minutes as Angelos Charisteas struck the winner a minute into injury time.

Berlin have not won at home in 12 matches and remain stranded in last place in the Bundesliga with just 15 points - nine adrift of safety.

Nurnberg collected their first victory in Berlin since the 1990-91 season to improve to 24 points and 15th place.

Berlin had the first chance after 11 minutes with Raffael getting around Nurnberg keeper Raphael Schäfer, but Dominik Maroh got back to clear his goalbound shot.

The hosts continued to push forward and Gekas stuck the left post five minutes later.

The ball hit the woodwork again after 21 minutes as Schäfer deflected Raffael's shot against the crossbar, and the keeper made another great save from Gekas six minutes later.

But the Greek international finally put Berlin on the scoreboard in the 36th minute. Schäfer blocked Cicero's shot from seven yards but the rebound fell to Gekas, who was able to steer it under the keeper and in.

Hertha continued their push forward but could not beat Schäfer and Nurnberg took advantage of Berlin's missed chances to equalise after 61 minutes. Marcel Risse sent a corner from the left side into the area where Bunjaku headed into the far corner.

Nurnberg were close to taking the lead with 14 minutes to play but Bunjaku blasted a 14-yard shot against the right post.

The visitors remained determined to score again and finally did so a minute into stoppage time. Andreas Ottl sent a through ball to Ilkay Gündogan, who crossed for Charisteas to net the crucial goal from eight yards out.

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