In-form Stuttgart were held goalless at Hannover to remain outside the top five. Cottbus came from behind in the East German derby to beat Hertha and climb out of the bottom three.
Hannover 0-0 Stuttgart
Hannover and Stuttgart played out a goalless draw at the AWD Arena, which sees VfB drop a little off the pace in the race for a European place.
In a fairly even game, neither side were capable of finding a breakthrough and had to settle for a point apiece.
Jiri Stajner and Mario Gomez wasted the best chances of the game in the first half.
Hannover: Enke, Cherundolo, Ismael, Vinicius, Rausch (Fahrenhorst 46), Balitsch, Lala, Pinto (Hashemian 78), Bruggink, Huszti (Lauth 78), Stajner
Stuttgart: Ulreich, Beck (Bastürk 58), Meira, Delpierre, Boka, Pardo, Hilbert, Khedira, Hitzlsperger (da Silva 90), Gomez, Cacau (Marica 73)
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Energie Cottbus 2-1 Hertha Berlin
Cottbus came from behind to beat East German rivals Hertha Berlin and climb out of the bottom three at the Stadion der Freundschaft. An Ervin Skela double set them on the way to an important three points.
On 17 minutes the home side had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee incorrectly ruled Jelic’s effort for offside after he had been played in by Bassila.
Four minutes later and Hertha were in front with Mineiro getting the goal. Cottbus keeper Tremmel parried a shot from von Bergen, Pantelic latched onto it and combined well with Raffael, who set up the scoring chance for the Brazilian.
Four minutes before the break however, the home side got themselves back on level terms. Ervin Skela curled in a superb direct free kick, which left Hertha keeper Drobny with no chance to save.
The home side then took the lead on the hour with Skela grabbing his second of the game from the penalty spot after the referee adjudged Piszczek to have fouled Ziebig in the area.
Energie Cottbus: Tremmel, da Silva, Mitreski (Radeljic 69), Cvitanovic, Ziebig, Bassila (Sörensen 61), Angelov, Rost, Skela, Jelic (Papadopulos 85), Rivic
Hertha Berlin: Drobny, Chahed, Friedrich, von Bergen (Dardai 34), Kacar, Mineiro, Lustenberger (André Lima 71), Piszczek (Domovchiyski 78), Skacel, Raffael, Pantelic
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Round-Up: Stuttgart Held, Cottbus Win