Dortmund avoid ignominious Cup end

An unfortunate own-goal by Jasmin Fejzic brought a cruel end to Greuther Furth's DFB-Pokal campaign as Borussia Dortmund reached the final in dramatic style. Both sides were locked together over 120 minutes, but as referee Florian Meyer had the whistle between his lips to signal a penalty shoot-out, misfortune struck Fejzik and the second division leaders. The Bosnian goalkeeper had been brought on as a substitute only seconds earlier in preparation for penalties, but he did not even get the chance to become a hero as an Ilkay Gundogan shot bounced in off him after striking the post. Furth more than held their own with the Bundesliga leaders and defending champions, particularly in the first half during which they ensured there was no way of telling which side was leading the Bundesliga and which was top of the second division. Dortmund spent half an hour chasing the game before Shinji Kagawa missed the biggest chance of the entire game. He headed the ball over the crossbar from just four yards out with the whole goal to aim at. Dortmund enjoyed a good spell early in the second half with Kevin Grosskreutz seeing his header saved well by Max Grun before Kagawa shot wide on the turn a minute later. Furth's first big chance of the game arrived on the hour mark when Occean headed over from eight yards. In the 78th minute, Occean headed even closer, but there was no way of breaking the deadlock and extra time was required. Neither team appeared willing to take a risk in extra time and a penalty shoot-out seemed to be the only way of deciding it. Furth coach Mike Buskens sent Fejzic on for Grun in the last minute, preparing for the spot kick lottery by sending on the tallest player in his squad, hoping his extra inches could make the difference. But it did not come to that. Gundogan tried his luck from 20 yards and the ball cannoned back off the post against the Bosnian goalkeeper and back into the goal with the referee bringing the game to an end as Dortmund were celebrating.