Hamburg enjoys rare home win to climb Bundesliga standings

BERLIN - Hamburg SV discovered a sense of urgency even without injured playmaker Rafael van der Vaart, beating Hannover 96 3-1 on Sunday to climb further away from the relegation zone with their first home win under coach Bert van Marwijk.

The northerners, who had lost their last two games and had failed to win at home since the Dutchman took over in September, canceled out a 28th-minute Hanover lead with Milan Badelj's long-range volley three minutes later.

Maximilian Beister's header straight after the restart put them in the driving seat and the forward turned provider to set up Hakan Calhanoglou for their third goal from a tight angle as Hanover slumped to their sixth straight away defeat this season.

Hamburg move up to 11th on 15 points while Hanover, without a win in their last seven league games, ended the game with 10 men after Salif Sane was sent off with a second booking and dropped to 13th on 14 points.

[Related: Goetze back to haunt former club in Bayern romp]

Leaders Bayern Munich protected a four-point lead over second-placed Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) by easing past Borussia Dortmund 3-0, who dropped to third, seven points off the pace. - Reuters