Ruud awakening for Stuttgart and Leverkusen continue to set pace as

Feb 13, 2010, 16:28 GMT

Berlin - Bayer Leverkusen opened up a three-point lead over Bayern Munich at the top of the German Bundesliga, for a couple of hours at least, with a 2-1 victory Saturday over defending champions VfL Wolfsburg.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, came off the bench to score twice in only his second appearance for SV Hamburg, who enjoyed a 3-1 win away to VfB Stuttgart.

Leverkusen had Andre Lenz to thank for their win as the Wolfsburg goalkeeper inexplicably dropped a Tony Kroos cross at the feet of Stefan Reinartz on 48 minutes and the Leverkusen defender calmly hooked the loose ball into the net.

Lenz was also unwittingly responsible for Leverkusen's second goal on 68 minutes, when an Eren Derdiyok header came back off the crossbar only to hit Lenz's shin and end up nestling in the bottom corner.

Edin Dzeko pulled one back for Wolfsburg 11 minutes from time and Josue really should have earned a point for the visitors with a minute left but the Brazilian skewed his shot with the goal gaping.

Jupp Heyncke's side, who remain the only unbeaten side in the Bundesliga, now have 48 points, three clear of Bayern Munich, who can draw level again with a victory later Saturday at home to Borussia Dortmund.

VfB Stuttgart's five-match winning streak under new coach Christian Gross came to an abrupt end at home to Hamburg as van Nistelrooy announced his arrival in the Bundesliga in style.

Marcus Berg netted the opening goal of the game midway through the first half, latching on to a Guy Demel pass before firing an unstoppable shot past Jens Lehmann in the Stuttgart goal.

Christian Traesch levelled matters for Stuttgart on 55 minutes with a superb strike from the edge of the area but the game was turned on its head once van Nistelrooy came off the bench 10 minutes later.

The Dutch striker netted his first on 75 minutes with a close- range shot and was on hand two minutes later to make it 3-1 from 10 metres.

Werder Bremen heaped further misery on free-falling Hanover 96 with a 5-1 drubbing. Thomas Schaaf's side took a deserved lead on 11 minutes when Hanover goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz allowed a Peter Niemeyer shot squirm under his body at the near post.

Hanover's defensive weaknesses were also on show on 18 minutes as Naldo was able to rise virtually unchallenged and head home an Ozil corner from close range.

The home side's woes increased further on 27 minutes, as Leon Andreasen poked the ball into his own net as he tried to prevent Petri Pasanen from increasing Bremen's lead.

Hanover's frailties from set-piece situations were further highlighted a minute before the break as an Aaron Hunt header from a Marco Marin free-kick made it 4-0 to Bremen.

Christian Schulz netted a second-half consolation effort for Hanover before Claudio Pizarro made it 5-1 to the visitors.

Hanover remain third-from-bottom on 17 points while bottom club Hertha Berlin salvaged a point after coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Mainz 05.

Aristide Bance gave Mainz the lead with a stunning volley eight minutes before the break but Adrian Ramos netted an equalizer on 51 minutes.

In Saturday's other match, VfL Bochum enjoyed a 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim, who finished on 10 men after the sending off of Luiz Gustavo, while on Sunday, third-placed Schalke 04 entertain Cologne and Eintracht Frankfurt welcome SC Freiburg.

On Friday, struggling Nuremberg lost 2-1 to Borussia Moenchengladbach.