Sat Apr 12 12:32:07 2008

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Bremen hammers Schalke to take over second place

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Bremen, Germany (Sports Network) - Werder Bremen jumped into second place on Saturday with an emphatic 5-1 win over Schalke at Weserstadion.

Frank Baumann and Boubacar Sanogo put Bremen ahead by two goals after 32 minutes, but Schalke pulled a goal back shortly before the half through Kevin Kuranyi. However, the home side took the match over in the second half as Markus Rosenberg scored his 10th goal of the campaign in the 59th minute to restore Bremen's two-goal edge, and Ivan Klasnic added two goals in the final 15 minutes to secure the big win.

Bremen is still seven points behind league-leaders Bayern Munich, who host Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, but their hopes of returning to the Champions League next season got a big boost with the win.

Petri Pasanen floated a ball into the box that Baumann nodded home for his first goal of the season, and the home side added a second goal on the counter attack when Tim Borowski's cross found the head of Sanogo and he beat Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Kuranyi also scored with his head for Schalke with three minutes remaining in the first half, but the visitors were unable to carry that momentum into the second half.

Borowski played provider a second time in the 59th minute when he set up Rosenberg's headed goal, but Klasnic finally secured the points with a pair of goals in the last 15 minutes.

He tapped in a good pass from Diego for his first goal, and then made a nice run through the Schalke defense two minutes from time to cap Bremen's big victory.

Hamburg slipped to fourth place on Saturday after they were stunned 1-0 by Duisburg. Ivica Grlic scored in the 54th minute to help his team climb to within two points of safety.

Rostock moved out of the bottom three as they earned a 2-1 win at Karlsruher. Fin Bartels scored both goals, including the winner in the 84th minute, for Rostock, which is two points clear of the drop zone.

Energie got three huge points from Arminia Bielefeld as Ervin Skela's 51st- minute penalty kick proved to be the difference in a 1-0 win. The loss dropped Arminia back into the bottom three, while Energie moves four points clear with the win.

Hannover knocked off Eintracht 2-1 as Christian Schulz scored in the 89th minute, while Bochum and Hertha Berlin finished 1-1.