Cologne survived a couple of late scares at home to fellow strugglers Werder Bremen as Jhon Cordoba's first-half goal earned the Billy Goats a 1-0 victory and their third win on the bounce.

Cologne 1-0 Werder Bremen
Goals: 1-0 Cordoba (39')

Cologne dominated the early stages, and had two unanswered shots on goal. Ismail Jakobs, who scored the Billy Goats’ fourth in the come-from-behind win against Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, nearly put them ahead after 10 minutes, but couldn’t make his shot count after a defensive mix-up. The hosts lost captain Jonas Hector to injury following a collision with Philipp Bargfrede, but continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession and deservedly took the lead late in the half. Rafael Czichos played a long ball over the top to find Dominick Drexler, who laid the ball off perfectly for Cordoba to tap in his fourth goal of the season.

Bremen reemerged after the restart with a point to prove, albeit without creating too much by way of chances. Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn had very little to do until late in the contest when Milot Rashica crashed an effort off the crossbar and Claudio Pizarro had a goal ruled out for offside for the second time in as many games as Cologne held on to all three points. The result takes Markus Gisdol's charges above Werder, who end the weekend in the relegation play-off spot following a run of four straight defeats and just one win in eight matches.

Match stats

• Cologne are on a three-game winning run for the first time this season after victories over Bayer Leverkusen, Frankfurt, and Bremen.
• The Billy Goats are unbeaten in nine home games against Bremen (W4, D5) stretching back to a 4-1 loss in December 2005.
• Cologne have netted 99 goals at home against Werder.
• Cordoba has scored in each of Cologne's last four home matches.
• Werder have lost six of their last seven matches, only beating Wolfsburg in that time on Matchday 13. That is also their only victory in their last 13 Bundesliga games (D5, L7).
• Another offside decision denied Pizarro a goal that would have meant he has scored in 22 consecutive seasons.

Watch: Czichos: "A really good week for us"

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Line-ups

Cologne: Horn - Ehizibue (Schmitz 63'), Bornauw, Czichos, Katterbach - Skhiri, Hector (c) (Verstraete 27') - Thielmann (Terodde 86'), Drexler, Jakobs - Cordoba
Unused subs: Krahl, Höger, Schindler, Mere, Modeste, Kainz
Out: Bader (muscular), Clemens (knee), Risse (thigh), Sobiech (muscular)
Coach: Markus Gisdol

Bremen: Pavlenka - Friedl, Veljkovic (Pizarro 77'), Moisander (c), Augustinsson (Bartels 67') - M. Eggestein, Bargfrede (J. Eggestein 79'), Klaassen - Goller, Osako, Rashica
Unused subs: Kapino, Lang, Langkamp, Sahin, Groß, Woltemade
Out: Bittencourt (suspended), Füllkrug (torn ACL), Gebre Selassie (groin), Möhwald (knee), Sargent (torn hamstring), Toprak (calf)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

About the clubs

1. FC Köln

RheinEnergieSTADION

SV Werder Bremen

Weser-Stadion