Pantelic blasts Hertha Berlin past Cologne

Nov 29, 2008 - 12:10 AM By PA SportsTicker

Hertha Berlin striker Marko Pantelic came off the bench to head a late winner and lift the capital club up to second in the Bundesliga table with a 2-1 victory over Cologne on Friday.

The unsettled frontman proved his worth to coach Lucien Favre by scoring four minutes from time as Hertha moved to within a point of leaders Hoffenheim.

The Serbia international is reportedly unhappy with his treatment by Favre, who left him out of the starting lineup for a third successive game tonight, but his introduction in the 69th minute proved key as he earned the home side its fourth straight win after Cologne's Milivoje Novakovic had canceled out Gojko Kacar's opener.

Hertha has not dropped a point since its 5-1 thrashing at Werder Bremen and look to have transformed itself into a surprise title contender.

The started like an in-form side and Andriy Voronin tested visiting goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon in the 11th minute.

Mondragon had to be alert again to keep out Kacar's header from Voronin's corner, but the Serbia defender did make the breakthrough in the 24th minute, slotting the ball in to the bottom right corner from 12 yards after being picked out by Voronin's pass.

Youssef Mohamad fired Cologne's first chance over the bar, but Novakovic was more accurate on the stroke of half-time when Fabrice Ehret's cross from the left found him in the area and he fired the equalizer into the top corner.

Pierre Wome tested Hertha keeper Jaroslav Drobny with a 30-yard effort after the break, while at the other end Marc Stein crossed for Raffael, whose shot was off target.

But it was left for Pantelic to decide the game in the 86th minute as he strengthened his claim for a recall to the starting lineup.

Patrick Ebert swung in a corner from the right which the substitute headed into the top corner from close range to inflict Cologne's third straight defeat.