This evening's midtable clash between FC Koln and Mainz 05 ended in a stalemate as neither side could find a winning goal that would have taken them to within touching distance of the European places.

Koln defender Dominic Maroh thought he had put his team ahead inside the opening 10 minutes after racing onto Matthias Lehmann's through-ball and firing home, only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

Sami Allagui came close to breaking the deadlock when he connected with Junior Diaz's cross on 24 minutes, but Timo Horn in the Koln goal was equal to the Tunisian striker's header.

Johannes Geis sent a free kick narrowly wide of Horn's right-hand post just after the restart, before Dusan Svento fired over the top when well placed on the hour mark.

Kevin Vogt could have won the tie for the home side, but his header in the final minute flew just wide of Loris Karius's goal.