Steve Cherundolo and Neven Subotić were delighted at three points each, while Heath Pearce and his Rostock side slipped back into relegation territory.

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HANNOVER TOP CUP FINALISTS AWAY
Steve Cherundolo played a sterling part at right back on Wednesday when Hannover took home three points from Borussia Dortmund on a 3-1 decision.

It took a while to get the pot boiling in Dortmund, and after 15 minutes of boredom, it was Hannover's Szabolcs Huszti who had compassion for the fans at Signal Iduna Park as his shot from a Cherundolo cross went just fractionally wide. 

Arnold Bruggink finally broke the ice by slamming home one of his trademark free kicks in the 38th minute.

Dortmund were simply non-threatening, and even Cherundolo found time for a fuzz-free trip into Dortmund territory, but had his shot saved by Borussia netminder Marcel Höttecke.

The following corner was the starting point for Hannover's second goal of the night. Bruggink sent the ball into the penalty area where Valerien Ismael flicked on for Frank Fahrenhorst, who just had to nod the ball home three minutes before the halftime whistle.

Dortmund tried hard to please their fans after the break, but were denied on several occasions by an omnipresent Hannover defensive line.

With 20 minutes into the second half, Dortmund's fans were rewarded for their patience when Alexander Frei converted a Florian Kringe cross.

Die Roten then confined themselves to counterattacks, one of which would put the result beyond doubt. Bruggink sent Szabolcs Huszti deep into Dortmund territory on a through pass and the Hungarian would not miss out on that opportunity.

Dortmund's resistance was broken and 96 protected their lead to the end.

Hannover will host Bryan Arguez and Hertha Berlin at AWD-Arena a week from Saturday.

Scoring
H96 - Arnold Bruggink 4 38'
H96 - Frank Fahrenhorst 2 (Valérien Ismaël) 41'
BD - Alexander Frei 2 (Florian Kringe) 65'
H96 - Szabolcs Huszti 9 (Arnold Bruggink) 79'

Line-ups
BD - Marcel Höttecke; Philipp Degen (Marc-André Kruska 38'), Mats Hummels, Robert Kovac, Dedê, Sebastian Kehl, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Florian Kringe, Giovanni Federico (Alexander Frei 64'), Diego Klimowicz (Nelson Valdez 76'), Mladen Petric

H96 - Robert Enke; Steve Cherundolo, Valérien Ismaël, Vinicius (Frank Fahrenhorst 38'), Christian Schulz, Hanno Balitsch (Vahid Hashemian 63'), Altin Lala, Szabolcs Huszti, Arnold Bruggink, Mike Hanke, Jiří Štajner (Dariusz Zuraw 82')

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HANSA SUNK LATE BY BREMEN
Heath Pearce's assist for the temporary equalizer wasn't good enough to keep second place Werder Bremen from a late 2-1 winner on Tuesday.

If you had to forget something this week, it may as well be the first half of this game. This was everything but a promotional video for soccer as 18,000 fans at DKB-Arena had to watch two teams that were not able to get an attack game going.

Except for a Kai Bülow try at the half hour mark and a Petri Pasanen effort a couple of minutes later on the opposite side of the pitch, not much was to be seen during the opening period in Rostock. 

The second 45 minutes were not as big an eyesore as the first half, but it took an individual achievement courtesy of Torsten Frings to get Bremen onto the scoresheet. The Werder midfielder plucked up the courage to thrash the ball into the net after the Hansa back four was not able to clear a Diego corner properly.

Those who thought Die Kogge would retreat were very much mistaken. With 15 minutes left, Hansa displayed how easy soccer can sometimes be. Marc Stein sent Pearce off and running down the left side before the US international crossed beautifully to Sebastian Hähnge, who skillfully put the ball past Tim Wiese.

Fans at DKB-Arena were still beside themselves with joy when Gledson fouled Torsten Frings in the box and referee Jochen Drees had no chance but to point to the spot.

Naldo's shot was saved by Stefan Wächter - who has now saved three of four penalties this season - but Ivan Klasnić was first to react and put the ball into the wide open corner.

The hosts were not able to find an answer as Bremen wound down the clock for the hard-earned triumph.

Hansa will visit Cottbus for a relegation six-pointer a week from Saturday.

Scoring
BRE - Torsten Frings 1 57'
HR - Sebastian Hähnge 4 (Heath Pearce) 75'
BRE - Ivan Klasnić 6 82'

Line-ups
HR - Stefan Wächter; Tim Sebastian, Gledson, Orestes, Marc Stein, Kai Bülow, Tobias Rathgeb, Enrico Kern (Djordjije Cetkovic 73'), Christian Rahn (Heath Pearce 60'), Fin Bartels, Addy-Waku Menga (Sebastian Hähnge 73')

BRE - Tim Wiese; Clemens Fritz, Per Mertesacker, Naldo, Petri Pasanen (Patrick Owomoyela 73'), Frank Baumann, Torsten Frings (Jurica Vranjes 84'), Tim Borowski, Diego (Aaron Hunt 73'), Boubacar Sanogo, Ivan Klasnić

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GOAL-HUNGRY MAINZ POUND PADERBORN
After losing 2-1 to Augsburg last week, Neven Subotić and Mainz 05 found the opposite answer Tuesday night when they played rude hosts to 6-1 victims SC Paderborn.

Mainz took to the offensive right from the start and should have taken the lead courtesy of a Félix Borja goal with six minutes on the clock, but referee Christian Bandurski erroneously blew the whistle for offside.

The home team completely took over command, resulting in the first goal of the evening, which Srdjan Baljak tipped into the left-hand corner from a Milorad Pekovic pass.

Paderborn did not have much to offer, but Mainz did. Eleven minutes later, Tim Hoogland swerved a ball from the right to Borja, who headed the ball past kepper Carsten Nulle, effectively ending his nine-game scoring drought.

Paderborn's hope of claiming points were vanished when Mainz again shifted up the gear in the second half. After a fantastic solo run, Borja had the eye for a trailing Markus Feulner, who put the ball away to make it 3-0.

One minute later, it was Miroslav Karhan who sent Borja off with a long ball, and the Ecuadorian again left Nulle with no chance.

An unnecessary lapse by Karhan shortly thereafter opened the door for Jovan Damjanović to score the lone goal for Paderborn.

But on this Tuesday, Mainz was able to find an answer to anything. After an Elkin Soto corner it was Borja yet again who jumped highest to get the better of Nulle.

Substitute Chadli Amri put the lid on an eventful game at Bruchweg-Stadion, rounding the deplorable Paderborn keeper for a sixth goal in stoppage time. 

Mainz will be headed for Joe Enochs and Osnabrück a week from Friday.

Scoring

MNZ - Srdjan Baljak 3 (Milorad Peković) 29'
MNZ - Félix Borja 11 (Tim Hoogland) 40'
MNZ - Markus Feulner 6 (Félix Borja) 60'
MNZ - Félix Borja 12 (Miroslav Karhan) 61'
PAD - Jovan Damjanović 1 63'
MNZ - Félix Borja 13 (Elkin Soto) 83'
MNZ - Chadli Amri 3 (Elkin Soto) 91'

Line-ups
MNZ - Daniel Ischdonat; Tim Hoogland, Neven Subotić, Nikolce Noveski, Marco Rose, Daniel Gunkel (Chadli Amri 65'), Milorad Peković (Elkin Soto 46'), Miroslav Karhan, Markus Feulner (Bo Svensson 75'), Srdjan Baljak, Félix Borja

PAD - Carsten Nulle; David Fall, Dusko Djurisic, Nils Döring (David Pisot 65'), Garry de Graef, Sven Lintjens (Marc Gouiffe à Goufan 65'), Karsten Fischer, Benjamin Schüßler, Daniel Halfar, Sascha Löbe, Dragan Bogavac (Jovan Damjanović 63')

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LIONS FINALLY REGAIN BITE
Josh Wolff and 1860 Munich ended their nine-game drought by beating SV Wehen/Wiesbaden 2-1 Thursday night.

Wehen/Wiesbaden set out with an attacking mindset, pushing the Lions back into their own half, but the first chance for Wehen had to come off a set play. Defenseman Torge Hollmann was able to beat Markus Thorandt in the air - his header, though, went inches wide.

On the other end of the pitch, after adapting to Wehen's style of play, 1860 created some chances of their own.

In minute 25, it was Antonio Di Salvo who had the opportunity to put the hosts ahead, but he was not able to slot the ball into an empty goal on a perfect Fabian Johnson cross.

A superb Daniel Bierofka solo run through Wehen's backline also went unrewarded when Berkant Göktan missed that opportunity from close range.

Shortly before the halftime whistle, Thorandt showed some mercy on his teammates when he converted a Wolff cross for the lead. 

Wehen tried to deliver offensively, but were not able, as Die Löwen decided to cease any attempts even remotely related to an attacking game to rest on their laurels. 

Their tactics did not backfire because Daniel Bierofka, with six minutes to play in the game, eventually put Munich up two by scoring his sixth of the season in predatory fashion.

Wehen were merely able to score a consolation goal courtesy of Sandro Schwarz in injury time, but 1860 were already wool gathering.

On the back of this victory, it will be much easier for 1960 to hit the road for table-toppers Borussia Mönchengladbach a week from Sunday.

Scoring
1860 - Markus Thorandt 1 (Josh Wolff) 44'
1860 - Daniel Bierofka 6 (Berkant Göktan) 84'
WW - Sandro Schwarz 2 (Maximilian Nicu) 91'

Line-ups
1860 - Phillip Tschauner; Fabian Johnson, Markus Thorandt, Lukasz Szukala, Benjamin Schwarz, Danny Schwarz, Lars Bender (Sven Bender 48'), Josh Wolff (José Holebas 65'), Daniel Bierofka, Berkant Göktan, Antonio Di Salvo (Timo Gebhart 71')

WW - Thomas Richter; Benjamin Siegert, Torge Hollmann, Kristjan Glibo, Ales Kokot (Dennis Schmidt 75'), Sandro Schwarz, Patrick Bick, Sascha Amstätter (Hui Xie 70'), Maximilian Nicu, Bakary Diakité, Ronny König (Valentine Atem 85')

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ON THE SIDELINE
Kamani Hill was not able to claim a spot in Wolfsburg's squad on Tuesday when they lost to VfL Bochum 1-0.

Hertha BSC Berlin coach Lucien Favre benched Bryan Arguez from their scoreless draw against Hamburger SV on Tuesday.

Luis Robles had to feel pine for the entire game on Tuesday as Kaiserslautern scored twice in their crucial shutout victory against Augsburg.

TuS Koblenz did not need Josh Grenier's services in their 3-2 win over SC Freiburg on Wednesday.