Nova settles the derby

On the seventh match day of the Bundesliga season, 1. FC Köln beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 (1-1) in the local derby. A crowd of 54,067 at the capacity filled Borussia-Park saw Roel Brouwers equalise for the home side in the 10th minute after FC had taken the lead through Fabrice Ehret (5'). With just minutes to go, Milivoje Novakovic drilled home a wonderfully struck free-kick to seal all three points for FC.

Daum keeps fate in Schalke eleven

Going into today's match, FC coach Christoph Daum decided not to change a winning team and started with the same eleven that began in last Friday evening's home win over FC Schalke 04.

The derby could hardly have gotten off to a better start for the visitors from Cologne. With just five minutes played, Nemanja Vucicevic let fly with a shot from 20 meters out. Borussia keeper Christofer Heimeroth had the initial shot covered but spilled the ball to the feet of Fabrice Ehret who reacted quickly and slammed home to make it 1-0 for FC.

All square

The celebrations of the 7,500 travelling fans were unfortunately rather short lived. Faryd Mondragon did well to turn a well struck shot by Marko Marin over the crossbar, but from the resulting corner, Roel Brouwers profited from disorder in the Köln penalty area and poked the ball into the net to make it 1-1 (10').

FC dealt with the situation of being back on level terms quite well and continued to press forward confidently - which at times left gaps for Mönchengladbach to exploit. Pezzoni (14'), Milivoje Novakovic (18') and Vucicevic (32') all had chances to restore the FC lead, but there were also openings at the other end which Karim Matmour (26') and Rob Friend (43') failed to take and so, the sides went into the break on level terms.

Nova snatches the points for FC

After the re-start, both sides began at high tempo but took distinctly less risks than they had in the first 45 minutes. Köln's next best chance to go in front again fell to Novakovic, whose flying header was parried by Heimeroth, whilst at the other end Rob Friend came close again for Borussia Mönchengladbach. As the game drew to a close, Daum's men had chances to settle the tie through Adil Chihi (82') and Sergiu Radu (86') but with just two minutes to go, Milivoje Novakovic stepped up to curl a free-kick inside the left post and guarantee FC their first away win in Gladbach since 1992.


The team line-ups

Borussia Mönchengladbach: Heimeroth - Gohouri, Brouwers (76. Baumjohann), Daems, Jaures - Alberman (90. Colautti), Paauwe - Matmour, Marin - Neuville, Friend

1. FC Köln: Mondragon - Brecko, Geromel, Mohamad, Wome - Petit (90. McKenna), Pezzoni - Vucicevic (84. Radu), Antar, Ehret (70. Chihi) - Novakovic

Goals: 0:1 Ehret (5.), 1:1 Brouwers (10.), 1:2 Novakovic (88.)

Attendance: 54.067 (ausverkauft)

Referee: Perl

Yellow Cards: Brouwers, Albermann, Gohouri / Vucicevic