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  • Monday 22 March 2010

    Hertha still doomed despite big win: Bundesliga reviews

    Cologne 1-1 Monchengladbach
    Freiburg 1-0 Mainz
    Bremen 3-2 Bochum
    Stuttgart 2-0 Hannover
    Nurnberg 0-0 Hoffenheim
    Eintracht 2-1 Bayern
    Dortmund 3-0 Leverkusen
    Hamburg 2-2 Schalke
    Wolfsburg 1-5 Hertha

    After last week's on-field protests, Hertha dished out a few indefinite bans to some of those arrested and then teased their support with what might have been with a stunning win at outgoing champions Wolfsburg. Die Wolfe needed extra time to beat Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday night and were definitely jaded after their exploits and were caught cold, Hertha two up inside ten minutes. Theofanis Gekas and Gustavo Ramos struck in the early stages to give the Berliners a shock lead and Gekas increased the lead halfway through the first half. Lorenz-Gunther Kostner rang the changes, sacrificing defender Jan Simunek for Grafite and it paid almost immediate dividends, the big Brazilian's first touch a delicate header that pulled one back. It was as good as it got. Gekas completed his hat-trick just on the hour and Ramos's second sealed it close to the end. Despite this, they're still going down. They still have seven points to make up and won't find much opposition that looked as leg-weary as Wolfsburg did here.

    At the top end, all three contenders dropped points. An Eintracht late show turned Bayern over. Miroslav Klose had put the Bavarians in front inside six minutes and so it remained until a couple of minutes from time when substitutes Juhvel Tsoumou and Martin Fenin swooped to snatch the points. Lucas Barrios struck twice for Dortmund as they beat fading Leverkusen 3-0. Dimitar Rangelov got the third late on. Schalke blew a lead after coming from behind against Hamburg. Ruud van Nistelrooy put his new side in front five minutes from the break before Kevin Kuranyi and Ivan Rakitic, with a penalty, turned it round in the space of five second half minutes. Jonathan Pitroipa popped up with an equaliser little more than ten minutes from time.

    Ciprian Marica got both goals for Stuttgart as they beat Hannover with something to spare while Bremen twice came from behind to beat Bochum. Stanislav Sestak put Bochum in front on the quarter hour only for Claudio Pizarro to pull it back to 1-1 ten minutes into the second half. Zlatko Dedic restored the lead five minutes later, but it was all square within second, Marko Marin with Bremen's second equaliser. And nine minutes from time, Torsten Frings broke Bochum hearts with a scarcely deserved winner. Cologne and Gladbach battled to a 1-1 draw, Maniche equalising Marco Reus's opener. Nurnberg nicked a point in a drab goalless draw with Hoffenheim while Freiburg scored a vital win over Mainz, Johannes Flum with the only goal of the game, which gives them real hope of digging themselves out of trouble.

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