Second half penalties from Raffael and Lars Stindl booked Borussia Mönchengladbach's spot in the DFB-Pokal semi-final draw with a 1-2 win over Hamburger SV.
Stalemate at the break
The opening quarter hour was as intense as expected as both sides tried to move forward in search of an early opening goal. Yann Sommer was fortunate that an early cross from Nicolai Müller rebounded into his chest while Herrmann's shot after a snappy break resulted in the winger firing well wide of René Adler's goal.
As the game went on the two teams went closer to grabbing the lead, though both goalkeepers would produce good saves to keep their respective opposition at bay. First, Adler scrambled across his goal to tip Lars Stindl's 20-yard skidding effort around the post. At the other end, Sommer did well to stop Wood's close-range effort after a good touch.
The 10-minute delay to proceedings hadn't hampered the play at all, if anything it was a more lively first-half than expected. A Kyriakos Papadopoulos header and Müller's acrobatic effort caused more concern for the Foals, who had were struggling to find their feed under the Hamburg floodlights.
A final chance fell for Gladbach before the interval although Stindl's snap-shot was blocked after Christoph Kramer went on a mazy run. The stalemate was fair given the play.
Penalties in normal time do the job
The second half began with a bang, and the opening goal. Just eight minutes in, Mergim Mavraj tripped the marauding Herrmann in the area as he aimed to get in on goal. Lars Stindl was tasked with taking the spot-kick and, unsurprisingly, one of Germany's most in-form players slotted home his eighth goal in as many games with ease.
Things went from bad to worse for HSV as a second penalty followed the first. This was much more avoidable as a lazy challenge from Matthias Ostrzolek resulted in Jonas Hofmann going to ground. That followed after three passes around the area, leaving the HSV fans frustrated as ever. Raffael stepped up this time, but the result was the same.
After the initial onslaught had passed and Gladbach had got their lead, Hamburg came back into the game. Mavraj almost redeemed himself with a glancing header from a corner, while Müller's effort was deflected past the far post as the Foals watched on.
Hunt's late effort was saved by Sommer's leg and after that chance has passed, the hosts' attempts grew even more desperate. Try as they might, they couldn't break down the Gladbach defence until it was too late when Wood collected Adler's long kick and raced through to fire past Sommer. Nevertheless, Gladbach still progressed to the semi-finals.