Chasing pack falters in Germany

Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld and Eintracht Frankfurt all suffered defeats and missed the chance to go top of the German Bundesliga.

With leaders Bayern Munich in action tomorrow at Hamburg, any of the trio could have leapfrogged the European giants by winning.

But newly-promoted Duisburg defeated Bielefeld 3-0 courtesy of goals from Maicon and Manasseh Ishiaku (two), substitute Vahid Hashemian hit the winner as Hannover beat Bochum 3-2 and Boubacar Sanogo and Petri Pasanen goals gave Werder Bremen a 2-1 win over Eintracht.

An 88th-minute winner from Solomon Okoronkwo sealed all three points for Hertha Berlin in their 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg.

Giovanni Federico notched a late winner as Borussia Dortmund prevailed 1-0 against bottom side Hansa Rostock, while fellow strugglers Cottbus were held 1-1 by 10-man Nurnberg following Andreas Wolf’s equaliser five minutes from time.