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Late goal stuns Nuremberg

A late equalizer for Energie Cottbus on Sunday denied Nuremberg first place in the Bundesliga standings.

The 1-1 result sees the team from southern Germany move to nine points and fourth place -- a point behind Bayern Munich and Schalke 04.

Tunisian international Jawhar Mnari opened the scoring for Nuremberg, who went into the game unbeaten, in the tenth minute with a well-taken shot from 25m.

The visitors then had several opportunities to extend their lead, but poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept them from adding to their tally.

Even Cottbus coach Petrik Sander conceded that his side was lucky.

"We should have been two or three goals down and we have goalkeeper Tomislav Piplica to thank for keeping us in the match," he said.

The homeside equalized with one of their first chances of the afternoon when Steffen Baumgart found the net in the 83rd minute after the Nuremberg defense had failed to clear a Cottbus throw-in.

Nuremberg coach Hans Meyer said that he did not believe the mistake cost his side.

"We failed to use our chances. Before the game I would have been satisfied with a draw, but after we had so many chances we should have come away with three points," he said.

In the other match on Sunday Petr Gabriel gave visiting Arminia Bielefeld at VfL Bochum an early lead, but the bottom team clawed their way back in the second half to win 2-1.

Fabio Junior equalized in the 58th minute before Ivo Ilicevic gave the home side the victory.
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