Coming off a 5-0 thrashing by Stuttgart in the last round, and after it was announced that defensively oriented septuagenarian Otto Rehhagel would take over as coach, Hertha were clearly out to disrupt Dortmund's swarming attack. And for most of the match, that strategy worked.

Jürgen Klopp's men clearly missed the creativity of midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who was out injured. And a number of uncharacteristic blunders by central defender Mats Hummels gave Hertha opportunities that they declined to take advantage of.

Instead, in minute 66, Robert Lewandowski got off a point-blank shot after Dortmund penetrated up the right flank. Hertha keeper Thomas Kraft saved brilliantly, but Kevin Grosskreutz found the mark with an equally inspired bicycle kick.

The lone goal was all Dortmund needed to keep their perfect record in 2012. Hertha will feel a bit unfortunate to lose their fifth on the trot.

They can contemplate their bad luck while pondering what changes Rehhagel will bring.

First-half Foals
Meanwhile, Mönchengladbach continued to show they are legitimate title contenders with an untroubled 2-1 win in Kaiserslautern.

Patrick Herrmann put the visitors ahead in minute nine, and Juan Arango doubled the Foals' advantages on a marvelous, curling shot with the outside of his left foot after a quarter of an hour.

Gladbach's mood may have dampened somewhat after rising young star Herrmann picked up a shoulder injury and had to be stretchered off in the first half. Leon Jessen gave Lautern a lifeline on the hour mark, rifling a ball into the net from distance.

But Lautern's offensive impotence came back to haunt them, and Gladbach didn't really have to sweat to claim the three points.

The win took the Foals up to second in the table.

An unusual draw

Bayern had won 12 straight against their opponents Freiburg, but there was no lucky 13.

Coming into Saturday's late match, Bayern knew that they could not regain top spot in the table. And that seemed to sap their desire allowing Freiburg to have the better of the first half.

Even the introduction of Arjen Robben after the break did nothing to change the complexion of the game. As the minutes wore on, Munich began resorting to long balls into the penalty area, but neither Mario Gomez nor later Ivica Olic were anywhere to be found.

Indeed, home side Freiburg could have snatched a last-minute win, but keeper Manuel Neuer got down to parry a low drive by Daniel Caligiuri to preserve the scoreless draw. The result means Bayern are now third in the table behind Gladbach.

Bremen win northern derby

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen picked up a very satisfying 3-1 win in Hamburg, their great northern German rivals.

Goals by a resurgent Marko Marin and teenager Tom Trybull staked Bremen to a first-half lead. Mladen Petric got Hamburg back into contention 15 minutes from time, but Hamburg's central defenders ran into one another chasing a long ball, and substitute Marko Arnautovic put the game away.

Leverkusen made short work of Augsburg, scoring three times in the space of 10 minutes to run out 4-1 winners. Former German national team member Stefan Kiessling bagged a brace in that one.

And a late header by Tomas Pekhart put Nuremberg past Cologne 2-1, netting the Franconians welcome points in their fight against relegation.

Negative record
On Friday, Hoffenheim again failed to win at home, despite being gifted an own goal by Mainz's Nikolce Noveski. It was the Macedonian's sixth own goal in the Bundesliga, tying the all-time record in the German first division.

Mohamed Zidan, though, scored at the half hour mark, and the match ended 1-1.

In Sunday's early match, Schalke will try to keep in the title hunt when they face Wolfsburg, led by their former coach Felix Magath.

Sunday's late match features Stuttgart and Hanover, two mid-table teams trying to get within striking distance of a spot in international competition.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Sean Sinico