Schalke's dismal run continues

Schalke's dismal recent form continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Borussia Monchengladbach.

Schalke's dismal recent form continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Borussia Monchengladbach. Igor de Camargo put the Foals in front and Schalke were only able to snatch a point late on thanks to a goal from Julian Draxler. However, the result leaves them still a point behind third-place Borussia Dortmund, five adrift of Bayer Leverkusen and still 12 behind league leaders Bayern Munich. Schalke had picked up just a single point from their last three games to slip from second to fourth. That mini slump did not seem to have put them off too much, though, as they started brightly at the Arena AufSchalke, attacking their guests with intent. Lewis Holtby sent their first shot over the crossbar, with shots from distance the order of the day for the Royal Blues as they struggled to advance beyond the packed ranks of Gladbach defenders. Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Draxler also tried their luck from distance, but the last line of Gladbach's defence, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, held firm. Schalke continued to attack in the second half too, but Gladbach continued to resist before scoring on the counter-attack in the kind of fashion which saw them finish fourth last season. De Camargo beat Timo Hildebrand, who had been selected by Huub Stevens ahead of Lars Unnerstall, with a toe-poked shot which silenced the Arena. There was only one possible response from Schalke and that was to beef up their attack, which they did with Ciprian Marica and Teemu Pukki both introduced. Their endeavours were finally rewarded in the 85th minute when Draxler found room at the far post to convert Pukki's cross and salvage a point for the Royal Blues.