Werder Bremen opened up a two point lead over third place Schalke after a 2-0 win over Hansa Rostock as the Königsblauen were held at home by Hannover.
Hamburg got back amongst the goals after four games without scoring, beating Hansa Rostock 3-1. Stuttgart also enjoyed a 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hansa Rostock 1-3 Hamburg
After four games without a goal, Hamburg once again found the goal trail with three against Hansa Rostock to seal an important win. HSV scored with their first two attacks and the home side never really recovered.
The result sees Hamburg consolidate their place in to top five, while Hansa now sit five points from safety in 17th place.
The home side started well, but it was the away side, who scored with their first attack of the game after 18 minutes. A fast attack from HSV saw Paulo Guerrero lay the ball into the path of Ivica Olic, who fought off a challenge from Tobias Rathgeb before firing past keeper Hahnel from 14 meters.
The ‘Rothosen’ then scored with their second effort on goal on 27 minutes with captain Rafael van der Vaart getting his name on the score sheet. Olic was allowed to cross unhindered into the middle where Gledson had lost van der Vaart, who slotted easily past Hahnel.
Hamburg, who hadn’t scored in their previous four games, then grabbed their third goal of the game six minutes into the second half. Olic won the ball off of substitute Lukimiya, before playing a one-two with van der Vaart. On receiving the ball back, he fired an unstoppable shot past Hahnel to all but seal the three points for HSV.
The home side did grab a goal with fifteen minutes left when Joris Mathijsen put through his own net. Lukimiya put in a good cross from the right and Enrico Kern rose to get a header in. His effort was however heading wide before Mathijsen made an unfortunate connection, which took the ball past Rost and into the net.
Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 Bochum
Bielefeld secured a vital win in their fight for Bundesliga survival as they beat Bochum 2-0 at the Schüco-Arena. The win sees them open up a four point gap over Nürnberg, who could only draw with Dortmund last night.
Michael Frontzeck had to wait until the 70th minute to see his side take the lead with Mijatovic heading in a Kamper free kick from close range.
The vital three points were sealed late on in the 90th minute when winger Jonas Kamper took advantage of plenty of room in the Bochum back line to fire in a right footed shot on his birthday to seal the win for the ‘Arminen’.
Schalke 1-1 Hannover
The winning streak of caretakers Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder came to an end as Schalke were held at home by Hannover. The point sees Werder Bremen open up a two point lead over the Königsblauen in the race for second place.
The visitors took the lead after just 8 minutes with in-form midfielder Arnold Bruggink firing home a direct free kick. Mike Hanke attempted to get a touch to the ball which distracted Schalke keeper Neuer. The ball however curled into the far corner of the Königsblauen goal.
The home side endeavoured to press forward and they managed to grab the equaliser five minutes before the interval. Ivan Rakitic passed into the centre where the ball rather luckily fell to Halil Altintop. The Turkish international sprinted past Vinicius before looping the ball over Enke and into the Hannover goal.
Werder Bremen 2-0 Energie Cottbus
Second half substitutes Markus Rosenberg and Hugo Almeida grabbed the all-important goals as Werder beat Energie Cottbus 2-0 at the Weser Stadion.
Werder dominated the first half but were denied on numerous occasions by Cottbus keeper Gerhard Tremmel. However, Thomas Schaaf’s substitutions in the second half paid off as both Rosenberg and Almeida scored to hand Werder an important win.
Stuttgart 4-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Stuttgart came racing out of the blocks very quickly to put the game beyond Frankfurt before the team from Hessen had even woken up. Three goals in the opening 18 minutes put the Swabians in the driving seat and has put them in the driving seat with regards Uefa Cup qualification.
The Swabians got off to the perfect start when Yildiray Bastürk fired them in front after just three minutes. Artur Boka crossed from the left, and Sotirios Kyrgiakos looked to clear. The ball however only fell to Bastürk, who volleyed home a superb effort to hand Armin Veh’s side an early lead.
That lead was then doubled three minutes later when Mario Gomez added a second. Boka again was the architect after he got to the bye-line before crossing goalwards. Spycher tried to clear, but once again only found a Stuttgart player. German international Gomez fired home to make it 2-0.
2-0 became 3-0 with just 18 minutes on the clock and it was Bastürk again, who was the goalscorer. Cacau combined well with Gomez on the edge of the box, and the striker laid the ball onto Bastürk, who rounded the keeper before slotting home his second of the game.
Two minutes into the second half and the home side added to their three first half goals. Bastürk played the ball to da Silva, who then brought Cacau into the play. The Brazilian hammered the ball into the right hand corner with the Frankfurt defence motionless.
Frankfurt’s only goal of the game came through Amanatidis on 63 minutes. A fine one-two with Toski beat the VfB defence and the Greek striker fired home a consolation goal for Eintracht.
Hertha Berlin 3-1 Karlsruhe
Hertha Berlin secured a 3-1 home win over Karlsruhe after capitalising on defensive errors from Miller and Hajnal.
The home side scored twice within the space of six minutes in the first half. On 25 minutes, a long ball from Friedrich saw KSC keeper make an almighty howler allowing Gojko Kacar to say “thank you” before slotting easily home.
Six minutes later and it was 2-0 with Marko Pantelic grabbing the goal. A mistake from Tamas Hajnal in midfield set Hertha on the counter attack. Pantelic played the ball to Ebert, who left keeper Miller standing with a super pass to Pantelic, who poked the ball over the line from close range.
Less than ten minutes into the second half and KSC got themselves back into the game with a goal from Kapllani. Iashvili flighted the ball into the middle, where the Albanian was on hand to convert.
The win for Hertha was sealed on 87 minutes with Rudi Skacel firing in the third. Raffael played the ball to Mineiro, who was clearly offside. The game played on and Mineiro played the ball back to Raffael who rounded the keeper before shooting against the post. However, Skacel was on hand to stab the ball home.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Round-Up: Werder Clear, HSV Back On Track