Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi helped spearhead a comeback as Mainz drew Koln 2-2 to leave the Mungersdorfer Stadium with a point on Sunday behind closed doors.
Mark Uth’s well-won first-half penalty gave the hosts an early start and Florian Kainz scored early in the second half to give the Billy Goats welcome breathing room.
But Mainz leveled the score line with two very nice goals. Super sub Awoniyi used a sweeping back leg flick to bring the visitors within one, and Pierre Kunde sliced through the Koln back line to make it 2-2 in the 72nd minute.
Mainz moves four points clear of the bottom three and nine away from the automatic relegation places (though 17th place Werder Bremen has two matches-in-hand).
Koln stays 10th, six points back of sixth-place Wolfsburg.
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Golazo de Kunde, lo dejaron pasar hasta el fondo, sólo faltó que le pusieran alfombra... @Mainz05en lo empata. #BundesligaEnFD con @SirJohnLaguna @marianot19 @RodolfoLanderos pic.twitter.com/bEoKBBlQ09
— FOX Deportes (@FOXDeportes) May 17, 2020
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Uth earned his penalty with an incisive run and deft flick before being fouled by a fooled defender. He smashed his penalty home after a VAR review for offside.
Dominic Drexler’s 53rd-minute spinning cross to the back post was met by Kainz’s powerful diving header to double the advantage for Koln.
Mainz came back with those two clever goals, including Awoniyi’s in-tight trickery. It’s the 22-year-old’s first Bundesliga goal, and comes with parent club boss Jurgen Klopp’s former club. Awoniyi has been loaned to FSV Frankfurt, NEC Nijmegen, Royal Excel Mouscron (twice), Gent, and now Mainz.
Gol de Awoniyi y el @1FSVMainz05 tiene vida en el partido de visita en Köln. #BundesligaEnFD con @SirJohnLaguna @marianot19 @RodolfoLanderos pic.twitter.com/Q3p3h77sc2
— FOX Deportes (@FOXDeportes) May 17, 2020
There was also a new phenomenon for most if not all of us, an odd sound identified by our own Joe Prince-Wright.
For the first 30 minutes of this Cologne v Mainz game I thought there was construction near the stadium.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) May 17, 2020
Turns out that loud clunking sound is... the old mechanical advertizing boards switching over every now and then. Wild that you can hear it that well.
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