BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund bounced back after slumping to their fourth straight Bundesliga defeat against Hanover 96 at the weekend, cruising past second tier St Pauli 3-0 on Tuesday to reach the German Cup third round.

Ciro Immobile, under-fire for his lack of goals this season, tapped the visitors in front after 33 minutes before Marco Reus rifled in the second goal after a cut-back by the Italian a minute before the break.

Apart from two early chances for the hosts, the second half was a subdued affair with Dortmund focused on holding on to their lead rather than adding to their goal tally.

They made it 3-0 when a bad clearance by keeper Philipp Tschauner fell straight to Shinji Kagawa and the Japanese made no mistake as he gave his side a boost of self belief ahead of Saturday’s league game with Bayern Munich.

Werder Bremen coach Viktor Skripnik made a winning start as his new club eased past third tier Chemnitz 2-0.

Ukrainian Skripnik replaced the sacked Robin Dutt on Saturday, with the former champions anchored in last place in the league.

Hanover were handed a surprise 2-0 defeat at relegation-threatened second division club Aalen and Hertha Berlin fared even worse, crashing out to third tier Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes.

FC Cologne had better luck from the spot, beating third-division Duisburg 4-1 on penalties after Timo Horn saved two.

MONTPELLIER, REIMS, LENS Ousted

PARIS: Montpellier, Reims and Lens all lost to second-division sides in the third round of the French League Cup on Tuesday.

Mouaad Madri fired Ajaccio to a 1-0 victory over Montpellier while Creteil won 2-0 at Lens with goals from Jean-Michel Lesage and Ludovic Genest.

Fawzi Ouaamar scored in the 12th minute of extra time to give Arles-Avignon a 3-2 win over Reims.

Bordeaux beat Toulouse 3-1, courtesy of goals from Nicolas Pallois, Diego Contento and Cheick Diabate.

Djibril Cisse netted twice in Bastia’s 3-1 win over Auxerre, while Nantes striker Itay Shechter scored twice in a 4-0 rout of Laval.

Jordan Ayew scored the winner in Lorient’s 2-1 win over Evian and Caen needed a goal from Mathieu Duhamel in the last minute of extra time to defeat Clermont 4-3.

SASSUOLO EARN SECOND STRAIGHT WIN

ROME: Sassuolo came back from a goal down to beat Empoli 3-1 at home in Serie A on Tuesday, their second consecutive win after failing to record a victory in their opening seven matches.

Daniele Croce put Empoli ahead in the 18th minute and Sassuolo struck back with second-half goals from Simone Missiroli, Sergio Floccari and Domenico Berardi.

Berardi also missed a penalty in the second half when he hit the crossbar but Sassuolo are near the middle of the table in 12th place, level on points with Fiorentina. Empoli remained one point above the drop zone.

Published in Dawn, October 30th , 2014