Hertha win at 10-man Frankfurt - Bayern held in Bundesliga

Frankfurt suffered their first home defeat of the season and the first at home to Hertha in 20 years a week after a stunning 2-1 win at champions Bayern Munich, who were Saturday held 1-1 at SC Freiburg. Dick van Burik and Kostas Konstantinidis gave Frankfurt a quick 2-0 lead after 21 minutes and Michael Preetz wrapped up matters with a double in the final 10 minutes against 10-man Frankfurt, who had Christoph Preuss was sent off in the 64th.

Hertha and Schalke are locked on 27 points, but Schalke top the bill on goal difference after a 2-1 win against Bochum Friday. But they can be overtaken by Leverkusen (25), who host Kaiserslautern Sunday. Munich are fourth with 23, Dortmund also have 23 after edging Wolfsburg 2-1. Cologne are sixth with 21 points from a 2-0 victory at Energie Cottbus. Coming off a 2-0 loss in Dortmund and 4-0 home defeat against Schalke (plus a 0-0 UEFA Cup draw with Inter Milan), Hertha rebounded in style with an emphatic win in Frankfurt. Van Burik silenced the 35,000-strong crowd with a diving header in the 18th for his first Bundesliga goal in three years. Frankfurt's defeat was effectively sealed three minutes later when Konstantinidis nodded home.

Hertha wasted a series of further first-rate chances, but striker Preetz finally doubled the advantage to a 4-0 after Frankfurt lost Preuss for a foul on Preetz. "Last week we lost 4-0 at home, now we won at Frankfurt who hadn't lost at home before. That was the best way to rehabilitate us," said Preetz. In Freiburg, Munich seemed on course to an easy win when they completely dominated the opening stage with attacking football and took the lead from Carsten Jancker's 17th minute shot inside the left post. The equalizer came eight minutes later and out of the blue, with newly signed Russian Vladimir But hammering a 25m freekick under the crossbar. "We may not be playing at our very best, but we will be back in top form," vowed Munich striker Giovane Elber when confronted with the four point deficit to the top of the standings.

Dortmund moved even on points with Munich from early goals by Giuseppe Reine and Evanilson. Jonathan Akpoborie scored for Wolfsburg. Cologne stretched their unbeaten run to four games after winning the duel of promoted teams in Cottbus. Christian Timm scored his sixth goal of the season in the 14th and then fed Dirk Lottner for a seventh season goal with 20 minutes left. Later Saturday Hansa Rostock were due to host SV Hamburg. Further games on Sunday's schedule were the Munich duel between 1860 and Unterhaching plus Bremen vs. Stuttgart.

(sda)