Gladbach strike late to salvage draw in Hamburg

An injury-time goal from substitute Branimir Hrgota earned Borussia Moenchengladbach a 1-1 draw at Hamburg in the German Bundesliga on Sunday and denied the home team some breathing space in their fight against relegation.
A well-taken 73rd-minute strike from Zoltan Stieber looked like it might be enough to lift Hamburg four points clear of the drop zone, only for Swedish forward Hrgota to power home a header from a corner.
The visitors had been hoping to take a firmer grip on third place after results went their way on Saturday but in the end they were relieved to escape with a point.
"Hamburg were very aggressive," Gladbach boss Lucien Favre said. "We had two very good chances at the start and we didn't take them.
"You have to say too that Hamburg fought very well. Bayern drew 0-0 here, Leverkusen lost 1-0 and Hanover lost 2-1. It's not easy here."
Hamburg had made seven changes to the team that was hammered 8-0 by Bayern last weekend, with out-of-form captain Rafael van der Vaart left on the bench as Joe Zinnbauer sought a strong reaction.
And goalscorer Stieber said it was vital that the home side responded well.
"We knew that last week, it was a very bad day for us," he said. "All week long we showed a lot of concentration in training.
"It's tough to lose points in the last seconds but that's football. Nevertheless, we showed that we're a good team."
Gladbach looked more likely to score in the hectic opening minutes as Max Kruse fired just wide after a swift break from Patrick Hermann.
Before five minutes were up, Hermann went even closer -– seeing his deflected close-range strike come back off the post.
Gladbach had the chance to move four points clear of fourth-placed Schalke but they had to withstand plenty of pressure in the first half.
The game looked to be drifting to a goalless draw in the second period but it exploded into life when Artjoms Rudnevs broke at pace before setting up Stieber. The Hungarian attacker curled home into the bottom corner beyond Gladbach 'keeper Yann Sommer.
Rudnevs wasted a chance to put the result beyond doubt before Kruse failed to take what seemed set to be Gladbach's last opportunity.
But they forced another corner two minutes into stoppage time and substitute Raffael cleverly stepped out of the path of the ball to allow Hrgota's header to nestle in the corner.
- Bayern 11 points clear -
Second-placed Wolfsburg face Hertha Berlin later on Sunday, while on Saturday, Bayern stretched their lead at the top to 11 points following a 6-0 win at Paderborn and Augsburg goalkeeper Marwin Hitz scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Bayer Leverkusen.
Robert Lewandowksi's first-half double on his return to the starting line-up got Bayern on their way, while Arjen Robben is the league's top scorer after getting his 15th and 16th goals of the season.
Franck Ribery and Mitchell Weiser also netted as the defending champions scored four times in the second half after the home team had Florian Hartherz sent off.
Meanwhile, there was late drama in Augsburg as Hitz stabbed home to salvage a 2-2 draw against Leverkusen. He is the first goalkeeper to score a Bundesliga goal from open play since Frank Rost for Werder Bremen in March 2002.
Bremen are still unbeaten in 2015 after Sebastian Proedl got an injury-time equaliser for a 1-1 draw at Schalke, while Martin Schmidt got off to a winning start as manager of Mainz 05 as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1.
Anthony Ujah scored Cologne's first goal at home in 363 minutes of football as they hit back for a share of the points against Hanover while third-bottom Freiburg also shared the points in a 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim.  
On Friday, Borussia Dortmund won their third league game in a row with a 3-2 success at bottom club VfB Stuttgart.
Source: AFP