Cottbus still waiting for first win, Hanover beat Duisburg

 In the other game on Sunday Hanover 96 beat struggling MSV Duisburg 2-1.

 In Cottbus Dimitar Rangelov gave new coach Bojan Prasnikar the ideal start with two quick goals.

 He opened the scoring in the eighth minute after being set up by Ervin Skela and ten minutes later benefited after Frankfurt defender Marco Russ slipped, allowing Dennis Soerensen to feed the ball to Rangelov and he made no mistake.

 Frankfurt played much better in the second half and fully deserved pulling back a goal just four minutes after the restart through Ioannis Amanatidis.

 The Greek forward found the equalizer from the penalty spot ten minutes from the end after Michael Thurk was brought down in the area.

 Amanatidis criticised his side's performance in the first half. "What we showed was not even enough for the second division. It was shocking and we knew that we had to do something in the second half.

 "We played better after the break and then deserved pulling level. If we had played like that the whole game, we would have won," he said.

 Cottbus player Timo Rost said that he believed the side could stay in the league. "We have what it takes to stay in the league, but we need to improve. Frankfurt put pressure on us, but we should have scored a third and then things would have been differently.

 "I think even though we only worked with the new coach for two days it showed that we played differently. Now we need a good result and then things will look up."

   In Hanover former Werder Bremen player Christian Schulz was the match-winner for the home side as he scored twice to give Hanover the victory that took them to seventh in the table.

 Nigerian Manasseh Ishiaku scored for the visitors in the 20th minute.

 Schulz, who had never before scored two goals in a match, said that he had to wait for a long time for his first brace. "I am just very glad that we got the three points."

   Duisburg coach Rudi Bommer said that it was a bitter defeat. "I need to compliment the side. I had some players injured out there and they all tried their best, so it is a really disappointing defeat."

   The results see Cottbus remain rooted to the bottom of the table - still waiting for their first win with three points, while Duisburg are just two places above them on six points.

 On Saturday, Luca Toni netted the only goal of the game as Bayern Munich beat Bayer Leverkusen to extend their lead at the top to four points.

 The result means Bayern remain unbeaten with 20 points from eight games. Schalke 04 sit second on 16 points following a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin in the Friday night game for a third successive victory.

 The other matches Saturday saw newly-promoted SC Karlsruhe move to third on 15 points thanks to a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund while Boubacar Sanogo scored twice as Werder Bremen moved level with Leverkusen on 14 points after a 8-1 demolition of Arminia Bielefeld.

 SV Hamburg also have 14 points after playing out a 2-2 home draw with VfL Wolfsburg, while defending champions VfB Stuttgart lost ground after suffering their fourth defeat of the season, a 2-1 loss at newly-promoted Hansa Rostock.

 Also Saturday, VfL Bochum and German Cup holders Nuremberg played out a 3-3 draw.

DPA