Steve Cherundolo's Hannover stayed hot to climb to fifth, while Joe Enochs and Osnabrück halted a winless slide.

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HANNOVER ELEVATE TO FIFTH
Hannover 96 continued to mine a rich vein of form with Saturday's 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund elevating Die Röten to fifth place.

Former Portland right back Steve Cherundolo played the full 90 in his 11th consecutive start, while Sal Zizzo remained in wait for his Bundesliga debut.

Nelson Valdez saw his 11th minute attempt denied by 96 keeper and captain Robert Enke as Thomas Doll's men ventured in search of an opening. At the other end, striker Mike Hanke glanced his 43rd minute shot well over crossbar.

In the 54th minute, Szabolcs Huszti held his composure for his third goal from the penalty spot after Philipp Degen brought Sergio Pinto to the ground in the area.

Roughly 15 minutes afterwards, Poland international Jakub Blaszczykowski dragged his shot beyond the target as Doll's men searched for a way back into the contest.

In the 73rd minute, Christian Schultz headed a second goal home for Hannover, the Reds grabbing a stranglehold on the scoreline.

Florian Kringe pulled one back for the visitors with his 79th minute strike, but it was simply a consolation.

On Saturday, 96 travel to the nation's capital for a clash with Hertha Berlin.

Scoring
H96 - Szabolcs Huszti 3 (PK) 54'
H96 - Christian Schulz 3 (Jan Rosenthal) 73'
BD - Florian Kringe 3 79'

Line-ups
H96 - Robert Enke; Steve Cherundolo, Vinicius, Frank Fahrenhorst, Michael Tarnat, Altin Lala, Christian Schulz, Jan Rosenthal (Jiří Štajner 88'), Sergio Pinto (Benjamin Lauth 76'), Szabolcs Huszti (Arnold Bruggink 64'), Mike Hanke

BD - Roman Weidenfeller; Philippe Degen, Markus Brzenska, Robert Kovač, Dedé, Tinga (Marc-André Kruska 46'), Jakub Blaszczykowski (Giovanni Federico 78'), Florian Kringe, Nelson Valdez (Diego Klimowicz 56'), Delron Buckley, Mladen Petrić

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1860 ESCAPE WITH SCORELESS DRAW
In an utterly forgettable game, the Lions of 1860 Munich failed to roar, and might well consider themselves fortunate to retain a point against SV Wehen Wiesbaden at the Britta-Arena.

Die Löwen held on to third place, nevertheless, and ground through the match with a better share of possession; but failed to prosper in attack.

For American defender Gregg Berhalter, it was a worthy day at the office, with the New Jersey stopper helping hold form at the back for a clean sheet. Meanwhile, ex-Wizard Josh Wolff slotted in from a substitute's role in the 83rd minute, but failed to find a solution to the scoreline.

Danny Schwarz nearly crafted an opener for 1860 in the 47th minute, but for the timely intervention of Kristjan Glibo.

1860 keeper Michael Hofmann then strained to deny a superb shot by Bakary Diakité, frustrating the well-traveled striker as the effort glanced the framework.

As the match wore on, neither side seemed able to maneuver for full points, and so the scoreline held firm.

The Lions will have more than a week to recompose, playing hosts to Kasey Keller's former side, first place Borussia Mönchengladbach, a week from Monday.

Line-ups
SVW - Thomas Richter; Dejan Simac, Marko Kopilas, Kristjan Glibo, Aleš Kokot, Sandro Schwarz, Hajrudin Catić, Benjamin Siegert (Patrick Bick 80'), Maximilian Nicu, Ronny König, Bakary Diakité (Valentine Atem 72')

1860 - Michael Hofmann; Markus Thorandt, Sven Bender, Gregg Berhalter, Torben Hoffmann, Lars Bender, Danny Schwarz, Timo Gebhart (Josh Wolff 83'), Berkant Göktan, Mustafa Kučuković, Antonio di Salvo

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OSNABRÜCK CHARGE TO VICTORY
Osnabrück pleased the Osnatel home-crowd with a 2-1 win over seventh placed Cologne on Thursday night, their first victory since a September romp over St. Pauli.

With injuries beginning to subside, starting keeper Freddy Gößling reclaimed his post between the poles, while American midfielder Joe Enochs took a backseat to some of the returning bodies. The longtime club servant would, however, see action as an 80th minute substitute to help shore up defense and secure all three points.

VfL started things off with a bang, impatient to let the game run its own course without a score. Just seven minutes in, Marcel Schuon crafted the game's first goal, his shot carving through the defense after profiting from keeper Faryd Mondragon's misdirected punch clearance.

To double up quickly, the hosts took an orthodox route to goal as last year's strike hero Thomas Reichenberger headed home from a Paul Thomik cross.

Strike partner Gaetano Manno wasted a chance to pile upon the lead as his 27th minute effort shifted just wide of the mark before the Italian hit man tried once again in the opening minutes of the second half.

Youssef Mohamad tried in vain to catalyze a Köln comeback with his effort in the 53rd minute. Just six minutes later, Germany international striker Patrick Helmes rushed in to redirect Milivoje Novakovič's pass across the face of goal to pull the visitors back within reach.

As the minutes wore on, the visitors augmented the pressure in attack, but failed to find an equalizer with Enochs and the VfL defense holding firm.

On Friday, Osnabrück travel to face Neven Subotić's Mainz for a stern league test.

Scoring
VFL - Marcel Schuon 1 7'
VFL - Thomas Reichenberger 4 (Paul Thomik) 8'
KLN - Patrick Helmes 4 (Milivoje Novakovič) 59'

Line-ups
VFL - Freddy Gößling; Paul Thomik, Thomas Cichon, Dominique Ndjeng, Andreas Schäfer, Marcel Schuon, Matthias Heidrich, Henning Grieneisen (Joe Enochs 80'), Rouwen Hennings (Mathias Surmann 69'), Thomas Reichenberger, Gaetano Manno (Nico Frommer 69')

KLN - Faryd Mondragon; Kevin Schöneberg, Tobias Nickenig, Youssef Mohamad, Ümit Özat, Roda Antar (Thomas Broich 73'), Marvin Matip, Matthias Scherz (Nemanja Vucicevic 46'), Fabrice Ehret (Adil Chihi 73'), Patrick Helmes, Milivoje Novakovič

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ANARCHISTS CONJURE 1-1 ORDER
Charles Takyi put St. Pauli ahead in the 40th minute, but an own goal undid any progress as Hoffenheim shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

Despite playing second fiddle to fullback Marcel Eger, Ian joy claimed a 33-minute shift.

Isaac Vorsah was adjudged to have handled Filip Trojan's free kick, and the resulting penalty was coolly slotted away by former HSV II midfielder Charles Takyi in the 40th minute.

Fabian Boll tried his luck in the 53rd minute, as the visitors seemed to be proliferating some defensive anarchy in their hosts' backline.

Hoffenheim needed a bit of luck to claim any hope at a draw, and in the 61st minute, Pauli stopper Fabio Moreno unfortunately deflected Edu's cross past his own keeper for the 1-1.

With just nine minutes remaining, Selim Teber soured the hosts' revival, receiving marching orders for a second collected yellow card.

On Sunday, Pauli play will look for some more credible joy in playing hosts to Augsburg at the Millerntor.

Scoring
STP - Charles Takyi 2 (PK) 40'
HOFF - Own Goal (Fabio Moreno) 61'

Line-ups
HOFF - Daniel Haas; Denis Bindnagel, Per Nilsson, Isaac Vorsah (Dragan Puljic 42'), Zsolt Löw, Gustavo, Selim Teber, Carlos Eduardo (Jochen Seitz 82'), Francisco Copado, Edu, Demba Ba (Vedad Ibišević 69')

STP - Patrik Borger; Carsten Rothenbach, Fabio Morena, Marcel Eger (Ian Joy 57'), Ralph Gunesch, Thomas Meggle, Fabian Boll, Charles Takyi, Timo Schultz (Morike Sako 88'), Filip Trojan (Florian Bruns 69'), Marvin Braun

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ON THE SIDELINES
Kamani Hill did not take part in Wolfsburg's 5-3 loss to Bochum.

Heath Pearce was not included as Hansa Rostock lost 1-0 to Werder Bremen.

Luis Robles was on the bench, but did not get any minutes as starting keeper Tobias Sippel helped usher FCK to a scoreless draw at Augsburg.

Josh Grenier remained on the bench as Koblenz leaked goals in a 4-2 away defeat to Freiburg.

After a run of games, Neven Subotić took a breather, left on the bench as Mainz managed a 1-1 draw away to Paderborn.