Hamburg, Nov 29 (DPA) Werder Bremen needed a late equaliser from Per Mertesacker to somehow salvage a 2-2 at home to VfL Wolfsburg and move top of the German Bundesliga while Schalke 04 and SV Hamburg both slipped up.
Edin Dzeko twice put Wolfsburg in front but first Hugo Almeida and then a Mertesacker header in time added on secured a vital point for Thomas Schaaf’s side and stretched their unbeaten run in competitive matches to 21 games, Saturday.

“They have a striker who took both his chances,” said Bremen midfielder Torsten Frings, explaining his side’s failure to pick up all three points.

The result sees Bremen move on to 27 points, ahead on goal difference of Bayer Leverkusen.

Third-placed Schalke 04 stay on 25 points after missing the opportunity of leapfrogging the leaders. Felix Magath’s side suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Marco Reus netting the only goal of the game after five minutes.

SV Hamburg’s stumbling form continued with a 1-1 draw at Mainz 05 to leave Bruno Labbadia’s side now six games without a win.

Tunay Torun gave Hamburg the perfect start with a goal after just three minutes but Tim Hoogland equalized for Mainz six minutes from time.

“Luck just isn’t on our side at the moment and it doesn’t do any good to complain about it,” said Labbadia. “We should have made better use of our counter-attacking opportunities in the second half.”

Hamburg are now one point clear of Hoffenheim, who lost 2-1 to Dortmund.

Jakub Blaszczykowski put Dortmund in front after just two minutes, calmly slotting the ball past Timo Hildebrand after being put clear by Barrios.

Demba Ba levelled matters four minutes after the restart but Nuri Sahin secured all three points for Dortmund 11 minutes from time from the penalty spot.

SC Freiburg bounced back from last week’s 6-0 mauling by Bremen with a 1-0 victory at home to Nuremberg, Stefan Reisinger netting the winning goal after 12 minutes.

Hertha Berlin remain firmly rooted at the bottom of the table after going down 3-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt courtesy of goals from Patrick Ochs, Maik Franz and Alexander Meier. Adrian Ramos netted a late consolation for Hertha.

Despite a 13th Bundesliga game in a row without a win, Hertha president Werner Gegenbauer said there were no plans to replace coach Friedhelm Funkel and sporting director Michael Preetz.

“I am completely convinced that Michael Preetz and Friedhelm Funkel will find the answers,” he said.

VfL Bochum and Cologne drew 0-0 on Friday night, a result that helped neither of the troubled clubs, while Hanover 96 entertain Bayern Munich on Sunday in their first home match since the suicide of goalkeeper Robert Enke.