An own-goal by Borussia Moen-chengladbach goalkeeper Logan Bailly handed Kaiserslautern a 1-0 win in the Bundesliga on Friday, moving the visiting side to 12th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
“It was an important win, but we need a few of them,” Kaiserslautern coach Marco Kurz said.
Bailly’s mistake gifted Kaiserslautern the lead in the 61st minute. His poor clearance presented Christian Tiffert with a corner, which Bailly then punched into his own net.
Photo: EPA
“He played a great game in Bremen,” Moenchengladbach coach Lucien Favre said. “We mustn’t forget that.”
Moenchengladbach remain bottom of the table, five points from safety with seven games left to play.
Fans and players observed a minute’s silence for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Moenchengladbach’s increasingly desperate attempts for an equalizer failed to trouble goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, playing in his second Bundesliga game. Marco Reus was unable to get to Mike Hanke’s cross for a late equalizer in the 89th minute and Hanke headed the resultant corner well wide.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” Favre said. “We started very well, but gave away too many balls. There was too much anxiety.”
The home side had the game’s first chance in the 12th minute when Tony Jantschke was unable to deflect Juan Arango’s free-kick on target and Kaiserslautern’s Brazilian defender Rodnei cleared Martin Stranzl’s goal-bound shot off the line minutes later.
Error-strewn play saw little in the way of chances created. An attempted cross from Mohamadou Idrissou went straight out. The former Cameroon international was full of endeavor, but with little result for the home side.
Kaiserslautern twice came close from set-pieces late in the first half. Adam Nemec headed Adam Hlousek’s free-kick narrowly wide in the 41st minute and Mathias Abel was unlucky not to score from close range two minutes later, when Bailly failed to deal properly with Tiffert’s free-kick. Arango cleared the danger.
Tiffert should have scored after the interval when he flashed wide of the far post after Nemec, Jan Moravek and Ivo Ilicevic carved open the Moenchengladbach defense.
Ilicevic tested Bailly after a good run from midfield in the 60th minute, then Nemec blasted the rebound over.
Bailly’s mistake proved costly for the home side a minute later, but his teammates would not blame him for the loss.
“We win together and lose together,” defender Martin Stranzl said.
The goalkeeper atoned somewhat by saving at the feet of Srdjan Lakic in the 81st minute when facing the Croat one-on-one.
“We need to go on, to keep on training. We have to keep on going until the end of the season,” Favre said. “There are still 21 points available, but it will be hard.”
“We did really well and they found it hard to get back into the game [after the goal],” Trapp said.
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