<p>COLOGNE, Germany &mdash; Cologne edged a step closer to Bundesliga relegation with a 1-0 loss at home to Holstein Kiel in the first leg of their playoff on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Kiel substitute Simon Lorenz scored what could be a vital away goal in the 59th minute to give the second-division team the advantage ahead of their second leg on Saturday.</p>
<p>Cologne, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga thanks to a 1-0 win over Schalke in the last round, created more chances against Kiel but failed to make them count.</p>
<p>Ondrej Duda came closest in the first half just before the break. Kiel’s Aleksandar Ignjovski was fortunate to get just a yellow card for a dangerous challenge on the Slovakian midfielder minutes before.</p>
<p>The yellow cards continued to come as the second half began in a rough manner, and Cologne kept pushing for the opener.</p>
<p>But Kiel scored against the run of play through Lorenz seconds after he came on as a substitute. Lee Jae-sung headed a corner back into the danger area where Lorenz rose above Jonas Hector to head it in.</p>
<p>Kiel already missed two chances to secure automatic promotion as one of the top two teams in the second division. Ole Werner’s side -– which knocked Bayern Munich out of the German Cup earlier in the season –- lost 3-2 at Karlsruher SC in the penultimate round, then followed up with a 3-2 loss at home to Darmstadt in Sunday’s last round. It finished third as Bochum and Greuther Fürth were promoted.</p>
<p>Werder Bremen, which was relegated from the Bundesliga with Schalke this season, won the playoff on the away goals rule against Heidenheim last year. </p>
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