Hamburg - VfB Stuttgart scored twice in the last 11 minutes after Jens Lehmann saved a penalty to seal a 2-0 win over Schalke 04 in a successful Bundesliga debut of new coach Markus Babbel on Sunday. Lehmann saved Jefferson Farfan's spot kick in the 16th minute before substitute Jan Simak broke the deadlock in the 79th, six minutes after coming on.
Mario Gomez wrapped up matters in the 84th minute as Stuttgart ended a winless run of five matches which had eventually cost the 2007 title-winning coach Armin Veh his job.
SV Hamburg lost ground on the leaders with a 1-1 draw at lowly VfL Bochum while Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg drew 0-0 in the other Sunday game.
Schalke and Stuttgart have played below par this season and a 4-1 defeat last week in Wolfsburg sealed Veh's fate and led to the appointment of the former Germany defender Babbel.
Schalke started the match strongly with Jermaine Jones firing against the right post and Farfan aiming at defender Arthur Boka on the rebound in the 11th.
Five minutes later Boka brought down former Stuttgart forward Kevin Kuranyi, but Farfan's weak penalty kick was well saved by former Schalke player Lehmann, who dived to his left to save the shot.
Gomez and Thomas Hitzlsperger came close for the hosts later in the half, and once again after the break with Hitzlsperger sending his effort wide right in the 66th and Gomez denied by Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer a minute later.
Simak came in the 73rd minute and opened the scoring six minutes later when he lobbed Neuer. Gomez's low shot five minutes later clinched the victory for Stuttgart.
The win sees Stuttgart climb into 10th place with 21 points while indifferent Schalke are ninth with 23 points and far away from the leaders.
In Bochum, Hamburg seemed doomed to their fourth defeat in a row on the road from an artistic effort by Stanislav Sestak in the 39th.
However, Ivica Olic salvaged a draw for Martin Jol's side, netting the equalizer from close range with 20 minutes left from short range. Despite the point, Hamburg are losing touch and now sit seven points off the top.
SG Hoffenheim lead the way with 34 points from a 3-0 Saturday win against Arminia Bielefeld and next visit champions Bayern Munich, who moved into second place on 31 points with a 2-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen.
Hertha Berlin are third with 30 points from a 2-1 win over Cologne on Friday. Leverkusen dropped to fourth with 28 points and Hamburg have 27.
In other Saturday action, Werder Bremen hammered Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0, Hanover 96 defeated new bottom club SC Karlsruhe 3-2 and Energie Cottbus left the drop zone for the first time in the season with a 3-1 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
