Hamburg stun Bremen on Van der Vaart's double

Feb 18, 2007, 11:20 GMT

Bremen, Germany - Werder Bremen's woes continued on Saturday at Weserstadion as Rafael van der Vaart scored twice to allow Hamburg to climb out of the basement with a surprise 2-0 win.

The loss, Bremen's third straight in league play, forces the club to slip into third place and fall seven points off the pace of league-leaders Schalke. Hamburg, meanwhile, have enjoyed a resurgence under new coach Huub Stevens, winning their last two games and moving just one point from safety.

Van der Vaart converted a penalty kick in the 42nd-minute to put Hamburg on the board, and then put the game away for the visitors with a second tally in the 87th, handing Hamburg a win at Bremen for the first time since 2002.

After losses to Schalke and Stuttgart, Bremen appeared to get back on track with a 3-0 thumping of Ajax in the first leg of their UEFA Cup contest on Wednesday. However, manager Thomas Schaaf's team failed to carry that momentum into Saturday's fixture as they were held without a goal for the second time in three games.

The first half was controlled by the home side, but it lacked any real scoring chances. Bremen produced some goal-mouth action, but failed to convert or seriously threaten the Hamburg goal.

Three minutes from halftime, the home side paid for its lack of finishing as they fell behind 1-0. Midfielder Daniel Jensen pulled down Hamburg's David Jarolim inside the penalty area. Van der Vaart then stepped to the spot and sent keeper Tim Wiese the wrong way with his left-footed shot.

The Hamburg defense remained tight after the restart, allowing Bremen little chance to even the score. The hosts did manage a good chance after the hour- mark on a free-kick by Torsten Frings. The ball sailed into the box and was headed just wide by striker Miroslav Klose.

With Hamburg sitting back in defense, Bremen continued to push men forward in search of the equalizer, but were turned away whenever they got close. Finally, with three minutes to play, Van der Vaart took advantage of the aggressive Bremen attack and hit back with a counter-attack of his own. He took control of a long pass from Nigel de Jong and eluded defender Peter Niemeyer. The Hamburg captain then beat the keeper with a shot just inside the near post to secure three unlikely points for the visitors.

In other Bundesliga play on Saturday, Schalke extended its lead at the top despite a 2-2 draw against Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich's struggles continued with a 1-0 defeat at Aachen, Jan Rosenthal scored the lone goal in Hannover's 1-0 victory against Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund also recorded a 1-0 defeat of Monchengladbach on a goal from Alexander Frei and Mainz scored twice in the second half to down Hertha Berlin 2-1.

On Sunday, Arminia Bielefeld hosts Bochum and Nurnberg hosts Energie Cottbus.

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