Hamburger SV beat Dortmund 3-0
SV Hamburg boosted their chances of Bundesliga survival on Saturday as goals from Petr Jiracek, Pierre Lasogga and a late Hakan Calhanoglu free-kick secured a 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.
New coach Mirko Slomka made six changes from the team that lost 4-2 to Eintracht Braunschweig - a result that saw Bert van Marwijk lose his job and five Hamburg board members resign - a decision that paid dividends as Hamburg secured three vital points.
Hamburg are now level on 19 points with fourth-from-bottom VfB Stuttgart, who crashed 2-1 at home to Hertha Berlin following Sandro Wagner's later winner. Dortmund stay third one point behind second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who lost 3-1 away to VfL Wolfsburg.
Bas Dost put Wolfsburg ahead with a tap-in after 13 minutes but Sidney Sam levelled for Leverkusen on the stroke of half-time. Luiz Gustavo restored the home side's advantage on 58 minutes, again from close range, and Ricardo Rodriguez made it 3-1 with a retaken penalty 17 minutes from time, a result that moves fifth-placed Wolfsburg within four points of Leverkusen.
Having lost seven league games in a row prior to the visit of Dortmund, Hamburg's long-suffering fans were finally given something to cheer when Jiracek headed the home side in front three minutes before the break.
Lassoga deservedly doubled Hamburg's lead shortly before the hour-mark with a deft lob and goalkeeper Rene Adler ensured there would be no Dortmund revival with a string of fine saves before Calhanoglu made it 3-0 at the death with a superbly struck free-kick.
"We probably didn't deserve to win by such an emphatic scoreline but the result was crucial," said Slomka.
Borussia Moenchengladbach threw away a two-goal lead at home to draw 2-2 with Hoffemheim but Lucien Favre's side remain sixth. Augsburg are now up to eighth, level with seventh-placed Hertha, thanks to a 4-2 win over Freiburg. Nuremberg moved further away from the relegation zone with a 2-1 against bottom club Braunschweig.
Fourth-placed Schalke were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Mainz on Friday night while on Sunday runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich visit Hanover 96 and Eintracht Frankfurt face Werder Bremen.
