Nuremberg snatch point in Bremen
Bremen - Werder Bremen were held to a 1-1 draw by 1. FC Nuremberg as the final Bundesliga match of 2012 ended in dramatic fashion with two goals falling inside the final ten minutes.
Marching Bremen
Bremen should taken the lead in a one-sided first half, as they created and overwhelming number of chances. However, despite their dominance, Werder were forced to come from behind as Nils Petersen's late equaliser cancelled out Timo Gebhart's earlier effort, which looked to have won the match.
The home side quickly settled into the their rhythm at the Weser-Stadion, leaving Dieter Hecking's men to chase the game for most of the first period. While Eljero Elia saw an early effort blocked, Kevin de Bruyne had goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer at full stretch to tip his close-range strike onto the outside of the post.
Deep-lying Nuremberg were struggling to prevent Werder combining in the final third and were lucky that the four-time Bundesliga champions lacked precision in front of goal. Zlatko Junuzovic should have opened the scoring when the industrious midfielder fired wide from Marko Arnautovic's, while Schäfer had to produce a fine reflex save to prevent Per Nilsson heading into his own net.
Closely-contested after interval
De Bruyne, Bremen's greatest source of a goalscoring threat, kept Schäfer's palms warm after half an hour, but though they were creating several chances, Bremen still proved to be vulnerable at the back. Javier Pinola fired off an initial warning shot, as Sebastian Mielitz kept out the full back's deflected shot, while Markus Feulner went close with a long-range effort less than a minute later. The first half ended goalless, however, as Bremen were left wondering what they needed to do in order to break the deadlock.
Proceedings were more evenly balanced after the re-start, as Nuremberg began demonstarting their intentions of taking more than just a point back to Bavaria. Mielitz produced a solid save when Feulner attempted to head home from a tight angle and the 23-year-old was called upon again soon after to deny Robert Mak.
Petersen levels Gebhart's late shocker
Bremen responded as they looked to engineer an opening. Petersen and de Bruyne both struck the woodwork in an around the hour mark, yet Nuremberg continued to look dangerous when they pushed forward on the counter. Timo Gebhart had a cheeky free-kick saved, while Sebastian Polter found himself through on goal, only for Mielitz to smother the ball at the forward's feet.
It was end to end action in the closing stages as de Bruyne and Aaron Hunt both wasted chances. Therefore it came as no surprise when Gebhart caught Thomas Schaaf's men cold in the 81st minute, curling the ball into the bottom from the edge of the area to beat Mielitz. However, Bremen threw bodies forward in search fo an equaliser and were duly rewarded late on. Petersen steered de Bruyne's volley-attempt into the back of the net to rescue a point for his side, who missed out on the opportunity to move within two points of the European places.
Line-ups and statistics
