The Bundesliga leaders could lose their place at the top of the table today when Bayern Munich face Hamburg and, although they set a new league record of 24 games unbeaten, Heynckes was disappointed with his players' mental approach to the game.

"I knew beforehand that it was going to be very difficult," said the experienced coach.

"There was a lot of talk in the build-up of how big a margin we were going to win by.

"That then gets into the minds of the players."

Leverkusen struggled to break down the Cologne defence and the visitors had the best chances to win the game with Sebastian Freis going close twice.

Heynckes praised his opposite number Zvonimir Soldo for discovering the secret to preventing his side from winning, but rued a missed opportunity to move three points clear.

"We could not work out how to break through their wall," he added.

"Cologne did that very well. Games like this happen.

"We didn't play well and it just wasn't to be."