All square in Frankfurt

The two sides traded first-half goals in a game that was admirably honest. The away draw would have come as a quiet delight for Augsburg. Frankfurt head coach Armin Veh might have also been content at his side's ability to claim a seventh point in four matches.

It was perhaps a fitting result, even allowing for some late drama when Augsburg substitute Arkadiusz Milik spurned a one-on-one chance and Frankfurt had a decent penalty shout waved away.

Armin Veh, in his 250th Bundesliga game as coach, had resisted the urge to select a more attacking team from the one that carved out a superb defensive win at Bayer Leverkusen last Sunday. He was, however, forced to replace Marco Russ - the goalscorer in that match - with Sebastian Rode.

But Augsburg found the going a little easier than Leverkusen did against Frankfurt, particularly in finding space between the hosts' midfield and defense.

Afforded that, and with both Andre Hahn and Tobias Werner in typically busy moods, it was Augsburg that broke through first when, on 33 minutes, Raul Bobadilla swivelled his bulky frame on a penny and poked home with his right boot from the corner of the six-yard box.

Initially, it appeared as if Werner was offside when the ball was headed on, and then interfered with play as Kevin Trapp - albeit somewhat hesitantly - came out in his attempt to claim. Replays showed, however, it was Frankfurt captain Pirmin Schwegler who got the touch, and the goal deserved to stand.

The goal seemed to spark the hosts into action. They did struggle with the final ball, however, with Spanish striker Joselu's failure to beat Marwin Hitz in a well-worked one-on-one perhaps indicative of that.

Frankfurt find a way

That changed shortly before half-time. Stephan Schröck had nipped around like a giddy Fox terrier for much of the first half, and he was again involved when he fired a strong header at goal just after the 40-minute mark.

Hitz pushed away superbly while at full strength. He could not take a clean sheet to half-time as a reward, however, with Jan Rosenthal lashing home from close range just moments later when he pounced on an errant Joselu header. Schwegler, with the cross from the right, would have been delighted after his role in Augsburg's goal.

The second half was full of half-chances and more than a few robust tackles, but neither side could quite find the breakthrough.

Milik had a chance to have the final say when sent away in the 85th minute. One-on-one with Trapp, however, Milik's two efforts were blocked before Carlos Zambrano made a desperate goal-line clearance.

Constant Djakpa's last-minute cross made contact with the hand of Jan Callsen-Bracker, but the Augsburg defender could have done little about it and referee Michael Weiner waved it away.

The result edged Frankfurt further away from the relegation zone ahead of the rest of the weekend's action, while eighth-placed Augsburg now have 23 points - a far cry from the nine they had at the same stage last season.