Steve Cherundolo's Hannover were tangled in a scoreless affair at Eintracht Frankfurt, while 1860 Munich climbed into the 2.Bundesiga third spot with a solid home win over Kickers Offenbach.

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NIL-NIL FOR 96'ERS IN FRANKFURT
Hannover 96 maintained form and held on to sixth place with a scoreless draw against ninth place Frankfurt.

Neither side gave much to talk about, although it was a clean sheet for Reds' defender Steve Cherundolo.

Hannover keeper and captain Robert Enke came up big to deny Alexander Meier in the 31st minute, before Szabolcs Huszti attempted from distance at the other end just three minutes later.

Sergio Pinto saw his header denied by the woodwork in the 47th minute as the Reds looked to get on top. Alas, neither side found an opening as the match wore out.

Next up, Die Röten have a Tuesday Pokal date at powerhouse Schalke, and follow it up by hosting Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Line-ups
EF - Markus Pröll; Timo Ochs, Marco Russ, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Benjamin Köhler, Junichi Inamoto, Michael Fink, Albert Streit, Alexander Meier, Markus Weissenberger (Michael Thurk 46'), Ioannis Amanatidis

H96 - Robert Enke; Steve Cherundolo, Vinicius, Frank Fahrenhorst, Michael Tarnat, Hanno Balitsch, Christian Schulz (Altin Lala 56'), Jan Rosenthal, Sergio Pinto (Arnold Bruggink 86'), Szabolcs Huszti (Benjamin Lauth 80'), Mike Hanke

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LIONS MOVE UP TO THIRD
1860 Munich moved up the 2.Bundesliga charts and into third place with a 3-0 win over Kickers Offenbach.

American duo Gregg Berhalter and Josh Wolff both played a role, with the former Kansas City Wizard taken off at the halftime interval.

Sven Bender started the scoring in the 33rd minute off after picking off the ball in midfield and making a cavalier run.

Adebowale Ogunbure dimmed any Offenbach hopes by receiving early marching orders in the 49th minute by collecting a second yellow card.

The hosts were firmly in control and doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when Berkant Göktan slotted home after being played in by former Stuttgart midfielder Daniel Bierofka.

Göktan doubled his tally for 1860's third in the 71st minute, profiting from a defensive breakdown.

With the rout, attention drifts to Tuesday when Die Löwen play hosts to Mainz in the DFB Pokal, after which a Sunday league trip to Wehen Wiesbaden ensues.

Scoring
1860 - Sven Bender 1 33'
1860 - Berkant Göktan 5 (Daniel Bierofka) 63'
1860 - Berkant Göktan 6 71'

Line-ups
1860 - Michael Hofmann; Markus Thorandt, Lars Bender, Gregg Berhalter, Torben Hoffmann, Danny Schwarz, Sven Bender (Mustafa Kucukovic 75'), Josh Wolff (Timo Gephardt 46'), Berkant Göktan, Daniel Bierofka (Fabian Johnson 75'), Antonio di Salvo

KO -  Daniel Enders; Nico Bunger, Martin Hysky, Moses Sichone, Bastian Pinske, Qualid Mokhtari (Daniyel Cimen 31'), Stephan Sieger, Adebowale Ogungbure, Thorsten Judt (Denis Eppstein 61'), Anestis Agritis, Dino Toppmöller (Thomas Wörle 52')

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MAINZ SHARE PAIR WITH AUGSBURG
FSV Mainz casually dropped a spot to fourth, thanks in part to a 1-1 home draw with Augsburg.

Former American youth international defender Neven Subotić racked up yet another full 90-minute shift at the back for Jürgen Klopp's team.

Milorad Pekovic turned out to be a danger man for the home side, getting involved in some of the early attacking build-up play.

After pressing hard in the opening minutes, with Félix Borja glancing his 19th minute header just over, the Reds found the back of the net through a moment of brilliance. In the 40th minute, Serbian midfielder Pekovic drilled a 30-yard free kick beyond the reach of Sven Neuhaus for his fifth goal of the season.

In the 59th minute, Timo Wenzel tried his luck for the away side, but was denied by Mainz netminder Christian Wetklo.

Augsburg would eventually find level terms, as Uwe Möhrle headed home from an 80th minute corner.

Neither side would find a means to grab all three points as the game died out.

Mainz travels to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday for a midweek DFB Pokal match-up with 1860 Munich, and follow it up with a trip to Paderborn on Sunday.

Scoring
MNZ - Milorad Pekovic 1 40'
AUG - Uwe Möhrle 2 (Robert Strauß) 80'

Line-ups
MNZ - Christian Wetklo; Tim Hoogland, Neven Subotić, Nikolce Noveski, Marco Rose, Milorad Pekovic (Bo Svensson 79'), Miroslav Karhan, Damir Vrancic (Mario Vrancic 69'), Chadli Amri, Félix Borja, Srdjan Baljak (Nejmeddin Daghfous 84')

AUG - Sven Neuhaus; Uwe Möhrle, Vaclav Drobny, Sören Dreßler, Roland Benschneider, Timo Wenzel, Robert Strauß (Sam de Meester 85'), Mourad Hdiouad, Patrick Mölzl, Lars Müller (Mamadou Diabang 46'), Felix Luz (Ingo Hertzsch 89')

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VIOLETS WILT AT KOBLENZ
TuS Koblenz took another step forward by claiming a 1-0 win over recent league additions Osnabrück.

Violet hard man Joe Enochs played 57 minutes from the start, while compatriot Josh Grenier failed to make it off the bench for the home side.

Thomas Reichenberger tried to give the purple away fans something to cheer about, but put his 21st minute header over.

Osnabrück had plenty of chances to go ahead in the first half, although the following 45 minutes would offer another story.

Matej Mavrič forced stand-in Violets keeper Tino Berbig into a fine reaction save in the 46th minute. The home-side would, however, find a breakthrough just four minutes later as Mavrič played set-up man to Dragan Bogavac, who obliged with a goal.

Rouwen Hennings had a double chance late on, but it was to no avail as Koblenz held strong for a precious win.

Koblenz host Arminia Bielefeld on Wednesday in the Pokal, followed by a Sunday league trip to Freiburg, while Osnabrück concentrate on Thursday's league clash with Köln at the Osnatel.

Scoring
KOB - Dragan Bogavac 3 (Matej Mavrič) 50'

Line-ups
KOB - Dennis Eilhoff; Martin Forkel, Matej Mavrič, Andreas Richter, Marko Lomić (Manuel Hartmann 46'), Goran Šukalo, Aniel Džaka, Tayfun Pektürk (Noureddine Daham 60'), Ardian Djokaj, Dragan Bogavac (Kenan Şahin 77'), Fatmir Vata

VFL - Tino Berbig; Paul Thomik (Nico Frommer 76'), Marcel Schuon, Dominique Ndjeng, Andreas Schäfer, Joe Enochs (Jan Schanda 57'), Matthias Heidrich, Henning Grieneisen (Bilal Aziz 65'), Rouwen Hennings, Gaetano Manno, Thomas Reichenberger

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ON THE SIDELINE
Defender Heath Pearce played no part as Hansa Rostock ground out a scoreless draw with Karlsruhe.

Kamani Hill was uninvolved as Wolfsburg played out a 3-1 win over FC Nürnberg.

Ian Joy watched from the bench as St. Pauli posted a 1-1 draw against visiting Wehen.

Former Portland Pilots keeper Luis Robles was elevated to the status of second keeper and watched from the bench as FCK managed a 2-0 home win over Erzgebirge Aue.