Hasime Hosogai (l.) and Halil Altintop (r.) had to settle for a point each as Hertha Berlin were held to a goalless draw by FC Augsburg
Hasime Hosogai (l.) and Halil Altintop (r.) had to settle for a point each as Hertha Berlin were held to a goalless draw by FC Augsburg

Hertha and Augsburg in stalemate

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Berlin - Hertha Berlin and FC Augsburg played out a goalless draw at the Olympiastadion on Matchday 14.

Scrappy

Berlin coach Jos Luhukay lacked no motivation for the visit of the club he led into the Bundesliga in 2011 and his players hit their stride early on against the Bavarians. Adrian Ramos saw a deflected volley drift wide, before Marcel Ndjeng, also playing against his former employers, crossed for Änis Ben-Hatira to flash an effort narrowly off-target.

There was little to be seen in the way of attacking football from the away side, save for one or two well-flighted free-kicks from Tobias Werner, and it was Hertha that finished the first half the stronger, with Marvin Hitz saving Ndjeng’s near-post shot with an agile parry.

The first half had hardly been high on goalmouth action, but there was even less to speak of in the second period as defences dominated. Set pieces looked to be the only way a goal would arrive, and Ben-Hatira sent in some good deliveries, but the Augsburg defence held firm, with Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker in particular preserving the scoreline by foul means or fair.

The final minutes wound down with neither side possessing the craft, guile or indeed luck to find a winner. The point makes it two straight clean sheets for Augsburg, while Berlin have now failed to score in their last two encounters.

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