FCA concede last-second equaliser in Mönchengladbach

FC Augsburg will leave Mönchengladbach with just a point after conceding with the last kick of the game. Alfred Finnbogason had put FCA in front just before the hour mark but André Hahn tapped in right at the death to rescue a point for the home side. FCA head coach kept his faith with the eleven that beat Hamburg 4-0 last week, making no changes to the starting line-up. The hosts started on the front foot against a highly-concentrated FCA defence as the team were patient to wait for their opportunities to come. Indeed Augsburg began to stamp their authority on the game after the opening exchanges and found themselves with the ball on several occasions deep in the opposition half. Alfred Finnbogason had the Fuggerstädter’s first real opportunity, firing a decent low shot towards the Gladbach goal but Yann Sommer was on hand to comfortably save. At the other end, Lars Stindl found Mahmoud Dahoud, who let fly with a fierce strike but a solid Marwin Hitz got down well to parry away. The Swiss man also had to be alert to prevent former Augsburg player André Hahn from scoring against his previous club. Iceland international Finnbogason began to really show what he can do towards the end of the first half, first hitting a shot just inches wide of the post and then seeing his close-range effort blocked by some fantastic goalkeeping from the Gladbach number one. Jonas Hofmann failed to take advantage of a fantastic opportunity for the home side just before the break. The ball fell to him perfectly after a lay-off from Stindl but his toe-punt curled inches wide of the post as Augsburg held their breaths. That miss meant both teams headed into the break with the scores even and the match goalless. FCA started the second half with much more momentum, especially going forward. Dominik Kohr was left unmarked in the box from a Stafylidis corner but his header went high over the bar, much to his dismay. Hofmann then beat Paul Verhaegh to find Patrick Herrmann in the middle, who only just failed to find the target with his effort. Yet it was Baum’s side who made the crucial breakthrough after Halil Altintop sent through Finnbogason, who beat both Gladbach defenders to sneak in past Sommer and put FCA 1-0 up. Sommer’s efforts to stop the Iceland striker were not enough despite getting both feet to it and causing a heavy deflection. Jonathan Schmid had an excellent opportunity to net a second just four minutes later but he was unable to properly connect. The hosts looked flat and were unable to put FCA under any real pressure as they sought to somehow find an equaliser. Caiuby also celebrated his comeback after many months out with injury with five minutes to go. It looked as though Dieter Hecking’s players were out of ideas and set to be beaten on home turf. Bobadilla could have even finished the game off as the match reached the 90^th minute but just could not find the time to get his shot away. But then with the last kick of the game, former Augsburg man André Hahn broke the away side’s hearts with a last-gasp tap in to rescue a point for Borussia right at the death. There was simply no time to respond for an understandably devastated group from Augsburg who had given everything.