Gelsenkirchen, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Schalke scored twice in the first 23 minutes and held on for a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Revierderby at the Veltins Arena on Saturday.
After starting the season on a four-game winless streak, Schalke has now claimed back-to-back wins this week, while Dortmund's disappointing start continued with a third defeat in six games that leaves the club seven points back of leaders Bayern Munich.
Joel Matip had Schalke in front 10 minutes into the contest when he got on the other end of a cross from Dennis Aogo to turn a header home from six yards.
The lead was doubled in the 23rd when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar forced Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller into a save, with the rebound falling to the Dutchman. This time his shot was deflected straight to teammate Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who made no mistake with his effort, making it 2-0 to Schalke.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had Dortmund back within a goal three minutes later when he beat goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann with a shot from 15 yards, leaving the visitors with plenty of time to push on and collect points.
However, Fahrmann did well to keep out a strong shot from Dortmund's Ciro Immobile, and the hosts were able to see out the rest of the match to move one point ahead of Dortmund.
Bayern Munich rolled to another win on Saturday to maintain its place atop the table as Mario Gotze scored in the first half and provided the ball that was redirected into his own net by Cologne defender Daniel Halfar, handing Bayern a 2-0 win at Cologne.
Bayer Leverkusen failed to keep pace after being held to a 0-0 draw at Freiburg, which allowed Monchengladbach to climb into second place following a 2-1 win at Paderborn that saw the visitors get goals from Patrick Herrmann and Raffael.
Stuttgart notched its first win of the campaign by downing Hannover, 1-0, on a 69th-minute goal from Daniel Schwaab, while Wolfsburg topped Werder Bremen, 2-1, thanks to a goal from Ivica Olic in the 57th minute.
