Nuremberg rally earns vital point

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NUREMBERG, Germany -- Nuremberg scored twice in the last 10 minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, and grab a point which keeps alive their hopes of finishing high enough in the Bundesliga to claim a UEFA Cup spot.

Frankfurt, unbeaten in the league at Nuremberg for 20 years, appeared to be cruising to a victory after goals from Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Naohiro Takahara, but Nuremberg took advantage of two Eintracht errors to rally.

Nuremberg stayed fifth in the standings and Frankfurt moved out of the relegation zone to 15th,.

Eintracht went ahead after 26 minutes with a powerful header from big Greek defender Kyrgiakos, who rose to meet a corner and drove the ball powerfully under the crossbar.

Ivan Saenko beat an offside trap at the start of the second half but shot wide with only Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov to beat.

Chrystoph Spycher made a goalline clearance as Nuremberg pressed forward against the visitors, who did little but defend.

Takahara notched his 10th goal of the season in the 69th minute, pouncing on a loose ball after Nuremberg goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer had blocked an effort by Christoph Preuss.

Nuremberg halved the deficit in the 81st thanks to an own goal by Spycher, after Nikolov had stopped a powerful drive by Horacio Javier Pinola. Nikolov punched the ball away but it hit Spycher on the head and bounced into the net.

In the 87th minute, Robert Vittek took advantage of another lucky bounce to end a solo effort by slipping the ball under Nikolov.

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