Hertha Berlin are continuing their fight against relegation to the second division by appealing the German Football Association’s (DFB) decision on Monday to reject an appeal against their play-off defeat to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Hertha Berlin claim the game was unable to reach a natural conclusion after hundreds of Fortuna Dusseldorf fans invaded the pitch with over a minute of the game remaining.

The final 90 seconds were played after a delay of 20 minutes to clear the field and Hertha say they were unable to concentrate on playing football.

The German FA on Monday rejected their appeal, but Hertha have called for another hearing.

They have a further 24 hours to present their appeal against the DFB’s ruling and, in the meantime, both clubs are continuing to train in case the second leg of the play-off for a place in the Bundesliga next season is indeed replayed.

“This is not a judgement that we can accept,” said Hertha’s solicitor Christoph Schickhardt.

“It is not acceptable for all those interested in sport.

“Everybody saw that it was an irregular game. It was not a football game in the end.

“The judge spoke of it being a positive pitch invasion. That is quite a funny term for what we all saw.”

Hertha Berlin insist that, even if the Fortuna fans invaded the pitch out of joy and not with the explicit intent of menacing their players, it was still “impossible to concentrate on playing football” when the teams returned with Hertha needing a goal to stay up.