By Derek Wilson, dpa
Berlin (dpa) – Schalke moved off the bottom of the Bundesliga with a 1-1 home draw against Union Berlin on Sunday but extended their club record winless run to 20 games.
Goncalo Paciencia’s header at least earned a point for Schalke on coach Manuel Baum’s home debut. They had trailed to Marvin Friedrich’s second-half opener and moved up to 17th in the table.
Only bottom club Mainz remain pointless after four matches as 16th-placed Cologne picked up their first positive result 1-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ondrej Duda’s equalizer earned them a share of the spoils as Andre Silva’s penalty was not enough to keep Eintracht on pace with league leaders RB Leipzig.
Champions Bayern Munich crushed promoted Arminia Bielefeld 4-1 on Saturday after Leipzig triumphed 2-0 at Augsburg. Bayern and Borussia Dortmund are each a point off the top.
Schalke rallied when behind and former Union player Steven Skzrybski had a shot turned onto the bar by Andreas Luthe, who was recalled between the posts in place of Loris Karius.
But Paciencia headed in the resulting corner to give Baum a point in his second game in charge of the team.
“It was a tough game for us but I think everyone saw today better things from us,” Paciencia told Sky television.
“We got one point, that’s one step forward and we have to take the positive things from the game.”
Schalke last won in January and were unimpressive in the first half as Marius Buelter and Robert Andrich had the better chances for the guests.
Christopher Lenz had a shot saved by home keeper Frederik Ronnow soon after the break but Union snatched a deserved lead when defender Friedrich glanced in a near-post header.
Luthe said he was “naturally pleased” when informed during the week he would play said Karius, his rival for the starting spot, was “a good colleague.”
He might have done better in attempting to save Paciencia’s header though and admitted the result “feels more like two points dropped.”
Victory in Cologne would have taken unbeaten Frankfurt onto 10 points, behind only Leipzig on goal difference but they are still an impressive fourth in the table.
There were few chances in a hard fought first period which tilted in favour of the guests after 45 minutes.
Sebastiaan Bornauw was deemed to have fouled Daichi Kamada after video review and Silva slotted home his third goal of the season from the spot.
“The penalty was bitter for us,” said Cologne coach Markus Gisdol. “But we have then shown a reaction in the second half.”
Kamada took a fresh-air swing when he should have doubled the lead after the restart and Cologne instantly made Frankfurt pay for the miss.
Kingsley Ehizibue found Duda from the right flank and the Slovakia midfielder converted in style.
“I’m happy that we came back. We can play football, we have the quality,” said Duda, who also admitted it was “time to pick up three points.”
Duda almost turned the game with a brilliant header saved superbly by Kevin Trapp but Amin Younes also went close to a winner for Frankfurt.
“We definitely wanted to win here,” said Eintracht coach Adi Huetter. “They played with their backs to the wall but did well in the second half.”
Be the first to comment on "Schalke off bottom but winless run extended; Cologne take first point"