Wolfsburg stumble at home again

Wolfsburg failed to win in front of their own fans once again as they were held 1-1 by a gritty Greuther Furth.

Wolfsburg failed to win in front of their own fans once again as they were held 1-1 by a gritty Greuther Furth. Emanuel Pogatetz gifted the visitors the lead with an own goal in the 27th minute, but Ivica Olic spared the Wolves' blushes three minutes before half-time. Wolfsburg searched for a winner in the second half, but were nearly caught out late on as Furth hit the woodwork. Bas Dost, returning to the Wolfsburg side after injury, was denied the chance to put Wolfsburg in front in the 20th minute when the linesman's flag cut short his route to goal Seven minutes later, a long punt forwards from Max Grun saw Pogatetz initially leave the ball for his goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. Furth debutant Ilir Azemi raced in between the pair and managed to cause enough of a nuisance for Pogatetz to make contact with the ball with his shoulder and divert it past his own goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The home fans were starting to become restless, sensing a repeat of their humiliating defeat to Hannover a few weeks ago, and the pressure appeared to be getting to the Wolfsburg players. That pressure was lifted in perhaps the only way possible in such circumstances, with a goal which was not scored the easy way. Dost headed the ball down to Thomas Kahlenberg, who only had the goalkeeper to beat but he managed to find the crossbar from close range. Fortunately for him and Wolfsburg, the ball bounced back out to Olic, who headed in the rebound to bring the Wolves level before the break. Naldo was the unlikely source of Wolfsburg's first shot on goal in the second half, but his free-kick was saved easily by Max Grun. Felix Magath's side were improving, though, and Diego tried to carve openings for his team-mates, albeit in vain. In the end, Sercar Sararer almost had the last laugh when he hit the post as Wolfsburg risked falling to a second successive home defeat.