Soccer-Winless Cologne squander three-goal lead and lose 4-3

BERLIN, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Bottom-of-the-table Cologne's dismal season took another twist on Sunday when they blew a three-goal lead to lose 4-3 at home to fellow strugglers Freiburg and remain winless in the Bundesliga.

Nils Petersen scored two penalties in the final minutes to complete a hat-trick and win the match for the visitors, who began the day one place above their opponents.

Cologne, in their first league game under caretaker coach Stefan Ruthenbeck after Peter Stoeger was fired a week ago, raced to a 3-0 lead in less than half an hour.

Lukas Kluenter put them ahead, Sehrou Gurassy converted a penalty and Caleb Stanko put through his own goal as Cologne looked certain to pick up their first league win of the season at the 15th attempt.

It began to go wrong for the Billy Goats when Petersen pulled one back five minutes before halftime and tension mounted as Janik Haberer scored a second in the 65th minute.

Petersen then equalised with his first penalty in the 89th minute and struck the winner from the spot in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Cologne remained stuck on three points at the bottom, eleven adrift of Werder Bremen, while Freiburg climbed out of the direct relegation spots to 16th with 15 points. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Bern; Editing by Toby Davis)