Dortmund falls

Borussia Dortmund suffered their first away defeat of the season Saturday, falling 0-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt, courtesy of a late goal from Theofanis Gekas.

The loss ended Dortmund's 15-match unbeaten run and left them one point short of the Bundesliga record set by Bayern Munich in 2005-06 for most points in the first half of a season.

"Today, luck wasn't on our side and sometimes you just have to accept that," said coach Juergen Klopp. "It was a tight match."

The Bundesliga leaders were shocked when Gekas, the league's top scorer, scored his fourteenth league goal of the season on 86 minutes.

"They deserved to win," Klopp admitted, adding that the opponent was "more passionate than we were in the one-on-one challenges."

"Neither the opponent, nor the pitch was our friend," Klopp said. "Things just didn't go our way."

Still, Dortmund maintain an 11-point lead over Bayer Leverkusen, who could cut that gap down to eight if they beat SC Freiburg on Sunday.

Nuremberg takes Hanover

Also on Saturday, third-place Hanover were taken down 3-1 at mid-table Nuremberg, as US defender Steven Cherundolo scored an own goal on 28 minutes before Andreas Wolf scored for the hosts three minutes later.

Hanover midfielder Sergio Pinto converted a penalty on 76 minutes to bring the score to 2-1, but Nuremberg striker Julian Schieber netted a late goal, clinching Nuremberg's victory.

Hanover remain 12 points behind Dortmund.

Werder Bremen disappoint again

In Saturday's other Bundesliga matches, Schalke 04 won their third game in a row, smashing Cologne 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Raul.

Werder Bremen continued to disappoint, losing 2-1 to visitors Kaiserslautern. Srdjan Lakic scored the first goal of the game after just 23 seconds of play.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, drew with Hoffenheim 2-2 and Mainz defeated St. Pauli 4-2.

Author: David Levitz (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Editor: Kyle James