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Hertha goes top with victory over M'Gladbach

HERTHA Berlin returned to the top of the German Bundesliga with a 2-1 home win over bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach while lackluster Hoffenheim dropped to third after a 0-0 draw at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Hertha's Andriy Voronin struck after 28 minutes against the run of play when Cicero's sharp through ball found the Ukraine forward who chipped the ball over goalkeeper Logan Bailly for his seventh goal of the season.

A minute before halftime Patrick Ebert played a beautiful ball to Pal Dardai who doubled Hertha's lead with a low drive before the visitors pulled one back with a Michael Bradley penalty in the 69th.

Moenchengladbach, which improved in the second half, came close to equalizing several times through veteran Oliver Neuville and Marko Marin but stayed on 16 points.

"For me it was no surprise that it became tight towards the end," said Hertha coach Lucien Favre. "But it was hugely important to get the three points after our defeat against (VfL) Wolfsburg (last Saturday)."

Hertha, on 43 points, is two points ahead of Hoffenheim. Second-placed Hamburg was hosting Wolfsburg, which is fifth, while champion Bayern Munich, in fourth, was visiting mid-table Werder Bremen.

In a scrappy encounter in Dortmund, Hoffenheim, which has now gone four matches without a win, failed to impress yet again in an error-strewn performance lacking spark and inspiration.

Dortmund settled for its 12th draw in 22 league matches this season.

Both teams finished with 10 men after Hoffenheim's Tobias Weis saw red for violent conduct and Dortmund's Sebastian Kehl was sent off for a second booking, both in the 77th minute.

Bayer Leverkusen suffered a setback by losing 0-1 at Hanover and dropping one place to sixth on 36 points.

Schalke 04 moved up to seventh with a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt while VfL Bochum won its relegation battle with Energie Cottbus 3-2.





 

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