Florian Neuhaus' late strike and Stefan Ortega's penalty save from Andreas Geipl have given 1860 Munich hope of maintaining 2. Bundesliga status next season. This only came after Marc Lais opened the scoring in less than 120 seconds, in what was an entertaining 1-1 draw with SSV Jahn Regensburg.
Team news
Between the two teams, there was just one change to the line-ups from their respective previous games. Vitor Pereira's 1860 remained unchanged from their 2-1 defeat to 1. FC Heidenheim, while Heiko Herrlich opted to replace the injured Jann George with Uwe Hesse after their 1-0 win over Preußen Münster.
Unchanged
Lais gives Regensburg the perfect start
Anyone expecting a tense start was to be sorely mistaken, as the hosts grabbed a lead within the first two minutes. Erik Thommy's corner was whipped in on the six-yard box, and a fantastic header from Lais bulleted the ball past a helpless Stefan Ortega. That sparked wild scnes of celebration, with the visiting end thoroughly stunned.
1860 didn't let their heads drop and began to come forward, though that was hampered slightly as Sascha Mölders struggled to stay the right side of the defensive line. It was the veteran forward who had the Lions' first real opening, too. Unfortunately for the visitors, his headed attempt for Lumor's cross ended up the wrong side of the near post.
Yet for all their possession, there was little in the way of promise for Pereira's side. Kolja Pusch had a deflected shot easily held by Ortega after a deflection took the sting out of the shot, and an better opening fell moments later. A promising cross from the right was missed by everyone and Marnon Busch, yet Lais couldn't make clean contact.
A flurry of yellow cards sparked up a period of midfield battling, though things changed as Regensburg went back on the attack. Thommy's free-kick narrowly missed the top corner and everyone else in the area before Hesse's shot across the face of goal was almost tapped in by Marco Grüttner.
1860 level, but lucky to stay on terms
The second half began with 1860 looking more lively and trying to play in the front foot. Again it was Lumor who looked to be their brightest spark, only for Marvin Knoll to recover well and block his effort. At the other end, Hesse's low cross caused havoc but Thommy's touch was just too heavy to guide the ball into the far post area.
As the game wore on, Pereira switched things up after the hour mark as Ivica Olic and Christian Gytkjaer were brought on. However, their influence was minimal as Sebastian Nachreiner continued to marshal the rest of the defence superbly.
However, there was little he could do to prevent the equaliser from going in. The ball was shifted out wide to Busch who drove past Marcel Hofrath and towards the by-line before cutting the ball back to the edge of the box. Neuhaus came charging in and showed real class to guide the ball past Philipp Pentke and into the bottom corner.
But as is the case with 1860, a set-back isn't far round the corner. Pongracic supplied that doom and gloom with a second booking, also ruling him out of the second leg. More was to follow, however, as Abdoulaye Ba tripped Pusch in the area. 1860 had their protests waved away, though Ortega came up trumps to push Greipl's effort wide.
So the game ended level and now everyone heads to Munich and the Allianz Arena on Tuesday evening, with 1860 surely the happier of the two sides.