Kenny Cooper netted another goal for 1860 in an exciting penalty shootout win while David Yelldell and Koblenz needed overtime to book their place in the next round of the German Cup.
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 - 1 MSV Duisburg
Michael Bradley returned to the Foals' starting lineup for the injured Thorben Marx, but was unable to prevent a last-second winner from MSV Duisburg to crash out of the German Cup on Tuesday night.
Having fallen out of favor with coach Michael Frontzeck in recent weeks, the young Bradley was given a lifeline in the form of a starting spot, and did his part in keeping their visitors off the board for nearly the full 90 minutes.
Despite struggling with inconsistency so far in the league, Gladbach unsurprisingly took control over their 2. Bundesliga guests from the opening whistle, regularly creating danger around Duisburg's goal but in each case failing to convert them into marks on the scoreboard.
A pair of threatening chances involving Argentinean forward Raul Bobadilla just after the re-start gave evidence that the Foals would continue their dominance in the second half.
They slowly gave way to their guests as the period drew on, ultimately making for a more even and high-paced game from both teams.
With neither team able to put away any of their second-half chances and the game looking headed into overtime, Danish forward Søren Larsen and former Foal castaway Kristoffer Andersen teamed up to spring the latter for an 18-yard shot to the right corner Logan Bailly's goal, giving the visiting underdogs the victory in the game's final seconds.
Bradley went the distance in midfield and picked up a late yellow card in the process, however it will be of little consequence with his team knocked out of the competition.
The loss leaves the Foals with only their shaky league campaign to worry about, which they will resume on Sunday afternoon with a trip to SC Freiburg.
TuS Koblenz 4 - 2 Energie Cottbus
David Yelldell went the distance as usual for Koblenz, giving up two goals in regulation but holding fast in overtime as his team surged past Energie Cottbus to the third round.
The visitors jumped quickly into the lead when Cottbus midfielder Marco Kurth sent Emil Jula through and into a one-on-one situation with Yelldell in the ninth minute, with the Romanian forward coolly slotting past the Koblenz keeper for the 1-0 lead.
Koblenz quickly equalized, however, with Shefki Kuqi heading a cross from Martin Forkel into the path of Zoltan Stieber, who blasted his tight-angled shot past Gerhard Tremmel in the 14th minute.
The hosts waited until seven minutes past the restart to take the lead, with Everson benefiting from a corner that was allowed to slip into the box, but the visitors fought back, once again equalizing in the 79th minute with Dennis Sørensen heading in a cross form Sascha Dum to send the game into overtime.
Facing the prospect of letting the game slip away in front of the sparse home crowd of just over 5000 spectators, Everson gave Koblenz the win in the 104th minute with his second goal of the day, a header following a Tom Geißler corner.
Gießler then added one more for good measure in added time of the second overtime period on a nice solo effort which saw him evade several deflated Cottbus defenders before firing home moments before the closing whistle.
The win gives Koblenz their deepest-ever incursion into the competition, however they must first deal with their faltering league season, which has them languishing in 16th place and desperately needing a positive result on their trip to Augsburg on Sunday.
1860 Munich 2 - 2 Hertha Berlin (penalties 4 - 1)
Kenny Cooper helped put 1860 Munich ahead by two against their Bundesliga visitors Hertha Berlin, however a late defensive collapse meant they needed overtime and penalty shootout heroics from keeper Gabor Kiraly to book their ticket to the next round.
Despite last weekend's struggles, the Lions were confident they could get past Hertha, the runaway worst team in the top tier in the Allianz Arena, with coach Ewald Lienen sending out an attack-minded 4-4-2 formation pairing Cooper and Lauth atop ready to inflict damage.
The Berliners did all they could to help the Lions to the win in the early going, gifting them the lead when defender Rasmus Bengtsson knocked the goal into his own net in the 10th minute following a corner from Sandro Kaiser.
Kaiser then proved to be the hero once again six minutes into the second half, swerving through the Hertha defense in highlight reel fashion and laying the ball off to Cooper to blast into Sascha Burchert's net for 2-0.
With the game seemingly under wraps and the coach's eye perhaps too much on the upcoming weekend encounter with Paderborn, Cooper was brought off by Lienen with 22 minutes remaining in favor of midfielder Alexander Ludwig in part of a double-substitution.
The shuffle proved to be near-fatal as Colombian Adrian Ramos brought Hertha to within one goal nine minutes later after pouncing on a deflected save by Lions keeper Kiraly, then Valeri Domovchiyski headed in a cross from Lukasz Piszczek two minutes later to force overtime on the stunned hosts.
Each team had their chances in overtime but neither could capitalize, sending the game into a nail-biting penalty shootout.
After Hertha's first attempt was saved by Kiraly and their subsequent missed disastrously over the bar, the final result was an inevitability, with defender Radhouène Felhi having the distinction of shooting the decisive spot kick to give 1860 the final 4-1 shootout advantage.
In addition to his goal, Cooper picked up a yellow card moments afterwards, his first of this competition.
The Lions will try to carry the momentum back into their shaky league campaign, and will stay in the Allianz Arena to host SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday afternoon.
Notes
Jermaine Jones is still recovering from injury and did not suit up for Schalke as they demolished their hosts VfL Bochum 3-0 on Tuesday evening.
Luis Robles sat on the bench for Kaiserslautern as they pulled off a shock 2-1 upset over last year's finalists Bayer Leverkusen in the Fritz Walter Stadium on Wednesday. |
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