Teams | February 3, 2014 at 12:15 PM
Bitter! Hertha BSC lose at home to Nürnberg
Bitter! Hertha BSC lose at home to Nürnberg
Hertha lost 1-3 at home to 1.FC Nürnberg despite taking an early lead.
Berlin - Hertha tasted bitter defeat in their first Bundesliga home game of 2014 on Sunday afternoon (02.02.14). Despite taking the lead through Adrian Raomos on 4 minutes, Nürnberg were more clinical in front of goal and won the matchday 19 encounter 3-1, in front of 37,438 at the Olympic stadium in Berlin. Hertha head coach Jos Luhukay rang the changes in his starting line up whick unluckily lost 0-1 in Frankfurt last weekend. Ronny and Marcel Ndjeng began the game at the expense of Niemeyer and Pekarik who were on the bench at first. Ronny played the role of playmaker while Per Skjelbred played in front of the back four alongside Hajime Hosogai. Nürnberg played their winter signing Ondrej Petrak in place of injured regular Per Nilsson in central defence. That was the only change made by Nürnberg boss Dieter Hecking, whose side beat Hoffenheim 4-0 last time out to record their only win of the season so far.
The opening attack came from Hertha, as Nürnberg's defence scrambled an effort by Nico Schulz away for a corner. That corner taken by Ronny found the head of Ramos at the near post where he scored his 12th goal of the season, taking him top of the Bundesliga top scorer list (4.). Ramos was involved again shortly afterwards as Sami Allagui played a promising through ball to the Columbian, who came a split second too late against Nürnberg keeper Raphael Schäfer (8.). Nürnberg's first stinging shot by Marvin Plattenhardt was pushed away for a corner by home stopper Thomas Kraft (10.). Moments later Hertha threatened again as Ronny played a nice one two with Ramos, who could only hit Schäfer with his shot while bearing down on the keeper alone (11.).
Defensive mix up bitterly punished
Nürnberg began to find their way into the game and equalised on 20 minutes, after a clearance by Johannes van den Bergh landed at the feet of Markus Feulner, who beat Kraft with a low shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net from the left edge of the Hertha box. Luhukay reacted by bringing on Peter Petarik for van den Bergh who had been booked, and looked in danger of getting his marching orders. The home side needed a while to recover from that setback. The next Hertha chance fell to Allagui who was nicely found by Ronny, but could not beat Schäfer from a tight angle (34.). The best chance to put Hertha ahead again was missed by Ramos, who cleared the ball out of his own area before sprinting the length of the pitch only to just miss a ball played in by Schulz (35.). Javier Pinola then cleared a shot by Ndjeng off his own goal line with Schäfer beaten (37.). The game was nicely poised at 1-1 as the halftime whistle sounded.
Both teams emerged for the second half unchanged. After a long distance effort by Hiroshi Kiyotake which flew narrowly over the bar, the capital city side took the initiative again. Ronny floated a free kick into the Nürnberg box where Sebastian Langkamp poked the ball over the bar (52.). Hertha continued to press forward. Allagui cut in from the right before finding Ronny, whose shot from the edge of the area was blocked by the visiting defence (62.). Nothing much was to be seen of Nürnberg but they still managed to take the lead out of the blue, as their first shot of the second half by Daniel Ginczek came back off a post to Josip Drmic, who easily put the visitors 2-1 ahead, mopping up from close range (68.).
Referee Weiner thinks twice
Jos Luhukay introduced fresh legs up front by bringing on Hany Mukhtar and Sandro Wagner for Schulz and Hosogai. With the home side throwing everything forward in search of an equaliser, Nürnberg suddenly had more room to operate in. Substitute Timo Gebhardt tested Kraft with a shot from distance, which the Hertha keeper did well to tip around a post for a corner (84.). Minutes from full time Schäfer cleared the ball off the foot of Ronny, whose dipping effort was cleared off the line by the hand of Ondrej Petrak. Match referee Michael Weiner awarded Hertha a penalty and showed Petrak a straight red card. After consulting his linesman, the referee took back both decisions because Ramos looked to be offside as Ronny shot and impeded Schäfer at the same time.
Deep into injury time at the other end Nürnberg wrapped up the game after they won a penalty after Ndjeng was adjudged to have fouled Drmi, who picked himself up and coolly slotted home the spot kick to make the final score 3-1 to the visitors. Hertha are on their travels again on matchday 20, as they visit the Imetch Arena in Hamburg, where struggling HSV await them.
The opening attack came from Hertha, as Nürnberg's defence scrambled an effort by Nico Schulz away for a corner. That corner taken by Ronny found the head of Ramos at the near post where he scored his 12th goal of the season, taking him top of the Bundesliga top scorer list (4.). Ramos was involved again shortly afterwards as Sami Allagui played a promising through ball to the Columbian, who came a split second too late against Nürnberg keeper Raphael Schäfer (8.). Nürnberg's first stinging shot by Marvin Plattenhardt was pushed away for a corner by home stopper Thomas Kraft (10.). Moments later Hertha threatened again as Ronny played a nice one two with Ramos, who could only hit Schäfer with his shot while bearing down on the keeper alone (11.).
Defensive mix up bitterly punished
Nürnberg began to find their way into the game and equalised on 20 minutes, after a clearance by Johannes van den Bergh landed at the feet of Markus Feulner, who beat Kraft with a low shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net from the left edge of the Hertha box. Luhukay reacted by bringing on Peter Petarik for van den Bergh who had been booked, and looked in danger of getting his marching orders. The home side needed a while to recover from that setback. The next Hertha chance fell to Allagui who was nicely found by Ronny, but could not beat Schäfer from a tight angle (34.). The best chance to put Hertha ahead again was missed by Ramos, who cleared the ball out of his own area before sprinting the length of the pitch only to just miss a ball played in by Schulz (35.). Javier Pinola then cleared a shot by Ndjeng off his own goal line with Schäfer beaten (37.). The game was nicely poised at 1-1 as the halftime whistle sounded.
Both teams emerged for the second half unchanged. After a long distance effort by Hiroshi Kiyotake which flew narrowly over the bar, the capital city side took the initiative again. Ronny floated a free kick into the Nürnberg box where Sebastian Langkamp poked the ball over the bar (52.). Hertha continued to press forward. Allagui cut in from the right before finding Ronny, whose shot from the edge of the area was blocked by the visiting defence (62.). Nothing much was to be seen of Nürnberg but they still managed to take the lead out of the blue, as their first shot of the second half by Daniel Ginczek came back off a post to Josip Drmic, who easily put the visitors 2-1 ahead, mopping up from close range (68.).
Referee Weiner thinks twice
Jos Luhukay introduced fresh legs up front by bringing on Hany Mukhtar and Sandro Wagner for Schulz and Hosogai. With the home side throwing everything forward in search of an equaliser, Nürnberg suddenly had more room to operate in. Substitute Timo Gebhardt tested Kraft with a shot from distance, which the Hertha keeper did well to tip around a post for a corner (84.). Minutes from full time Schäfer cleared the ball off the foot of Ronny, whose dipping effort was cleared off the line by the hand of Ondrej Petrak. Match referee Michael Weiner awarded Hertha a penalty and showed Petrak a straight red card. After consulting his linesman, the referee took back both decisions because Ramos looked to be offside as Ronny shot and impeded Schäfer at the same time.
Deep into injury time at the other end Nürnberg wrapped up the game after they won a penalty after Ndjeng was adjudged to have fouled Drmi, who picked himself up and coolly slotted home the spot kick to make the final score 3-1 to the visitors. Hertha are on their travels again on matchday 20, as they visit the Imetch Arena in Hamburg, where struggling HSV await them.