Hamburg - Jefferson Farfan was the hero as Schalke 04 enjoyed a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Ruhr derby Saturday while a late goal from Simon Rolfes helped Bayer Leverkusen beat Cologne by the same scoreline to move clear at the top of the table. Leverkusen struggled for long periods away to Cologne but Rolfes eventually broke the deadlock eight minutes from time and the home side's misery was completed when Maniche saw a straight red for standing on Arturo Vidal as the Chilean lay on the ground.
Jupp Heynckes' side now have 17 points from seven games but SV Hamburg can draw level with victory against Bayern Munich in the day's late game while Schalke now lie third on 13 points.
Werder Bremen move up to fourth on 12 points after running out worthy 3-0 winners against Mainz thanks to an opening-half effort from Aaron Hunt and a second-half brace from Claudio Pizarro.
A sold-out crowd of over 80,000 were present at Dortmund's Signal- Iduna Park stadium for what is traditionally the biggest rivalry in German football with the overwhelming majority hoping that Borussia could end a five-game winless run in the league.
However, it was Schalke, themselves desperate for points to keep pace with the leaders, who went ahead on 31 minutes with their first opportunity of the game when Farfan steered home a Halil Altintop cross.
Dortmund pushed in search of the equalizer but Schalke looked more likely to extend their lead and went close through Altintop and substitute Gerald Asamoah.
Juergen Klopp's side have now failed to win for six matches in the league leaving Dortmund languishing in 15th spot, just one point above the relegation zone.
Defending champions VfL Wolfsburg move up to fifth level on points with Bremen after a 4-2 win against Hanover. Wolfsburg went ahead through a stunning free-kick from Zvjezdan Misimovic on 8 minutes, when the Bosnia-Herzegovina international fired an unstoppable shot into the top righthand corner.
Hanno Balitsch equalized for Hanover on 28 minutes from close range but Christian Gentner restored Wolfsburg's lead just before the break.
Makoto Hasebe gave Wolfsburg a two-goal cushion with a free header three minutes after the restart but an own goal from Alexander Madlung just two minutes later briefly gave Hanover hope before Edin Dzeko netted his fourth goal of the season to ensure a 4-2 victory for Armin Veh's side.
VfB Stuttgart move to the safety of midtable after easing to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, who played the majority of the game with 10 men after Marco Russ received his marching orders for a last-man foul on Sami Khedira.
Julian Schieber opened the scoring for Stuttgart after 17 minutes, taking full advantage of an error of judgment by Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov, and netted his second shortly after the half-hour mark when a Russ clearance landed at his feet.
Any hopes of a Frankfurt comeback ended two minutes later when Russ saw red and a second-half goal from Thomas Hitzlsperger completed the 3-0 win.
On Sunday, SC Freiburg entertain Borussia Moenchengladbach and Hoffenheim welcome bottom club Hertha Berlin while in the Friday game, VfL Bochum climbed out of relegation zone with a 1-0 win in Nuremberg.
