For the second time this season, Cologne’s Timo Horn has saved a penalty against Augsburg as late goals from Anthony Modeste and Philipp Max have seen each side leave with a point.
The home side came in three points behind the visitors in Sunday’s battle, just above the play-off relegation spot. They also had the best of the opening minutes, with Florian Niederlechner forcing Cologne No.1, Timo Horn, to save a few good saves.
In the first half, the Billy Goats, on the other hand, failed to assemble a shot on target. From close range, though Ismail Jakobs went closest with a header over the bar.
Niederlechner then had the perfect chance to beat Horn when his side won a penalty 27 minutes later, Horn tripping Noah Sarenren-Bazee in the box.
But Horn delivered with a superb save to prevent the top scorer from 12 yards on Augsburg, just as he did in the reverse fixture when he saved the spot-kick from Andre Hahn.
The set pieces from Augsburg’s wing-back Philipp Max caused a lot of problems for the Cologne defence, but he too couldn’t score with a free-kick.
Such was the goalless game before the half-time whistle.
However, Cologne put up a much better battle in the second half. Twice in front of the Augsburg net, Andreas Luthe was called into action. Around the hour mark, he first cleared a risky Mark Uth cross. He then denied Jakobs the triumph of a goal, as he slid a shot to the net from Florian Kainz’s ball to Augsburg’s backpost.
The home side did not get the opportunities that they had in the opening 45 again in the second half. In the second half, Augsburg failed to record a shot on goal.
Meanwhile, Jhon Cordoba tried to hunt for a goal on the other end, but the defence of the home side was up for battle. Córdoba made way for Modeste with less than 10 minutes to play and it only took the Frenchman three minutes to make an impact.
A left-footed half-volley went across Luthe and into the far bottom corner just inside the Augsburg box.
Modeste thought he was victorious and the gae would now end in their favour, but Max had other ideas. The wing-back ran up from behind to meet the lobbed cross of Raphael Framberger and kicked the ball past Horn to give his side a vital point right before the match ended.
Line-ups:
Augsburg: Luthe – Framberger, Jedvaj, Uduokhai, Max – Khedira (c), Gruezo – Sarenren Bazee, Richter, Vargas (Löwen 76′) – Niederlechner (Finnbogason 76′)
Cologne: Horn – Ehizibue, Leistner, Czichos, Schmitz (Katterbach 28′) – Skhiri (Höger 46′), Hector (c) – Kainz, Uth (Rexhbecaj 71′), Jakobs – Cordoba (Modeste 82′)
