Dortmund, Nov 9 (IANS): Borussia Dortmund overpowered a resilient Schalke 3-2 at the 147th "Revierderby" and SV Werder Bremen increased Augsburg's relegation worries to conclude the 12th round in Bundesliga.
Dortmund on Sunday reaped their seventh straight win with a 3-2 victory over Schalke in a fast-paced seesaw encounter at the Westfalenstadion. Meanwhile, the "Royal Blues" remain winless in their sixth game in a row, reports Xinhua.
Dortmund took charge from the kick-off against the passive visitors from Schalke, who lurked for counter-attacks. Schalke were able to keep Dortmund at a distance until the half-hour mark before Matthias Ginter's pinpoint cross into the centre of the box found Shinji Kagawa, who headed home the opener.
It was short-lived joy for the hosts as Schalke bounced back only three minutes later with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar tapping home Leroy Sane's square pass to restore parity.
However, Dortmund remained in control of the proceedings and grabbed the lead for a second time thanks to Ginter who got his name on the scoreboard after heading home Henrikh Mkhitaryan's corner kick in the 43rd minute.
The "BVB" continued their powerful performance after the restart and got rewarded with the 3-1 lead as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang capitalised on a through ball by Gonzalo Castro to establish a two-goal lead for the hosts.
Schalke's custodian Ralf Faehrmann kept his side in the game as he denied promising chances by Ilkay Guendogan and Aubameyang.
The visitors pulled themselves together and reduced the arrears out of the blue. Huntelaar made use of Mats Hummel's moment of madness inside the box, allowing the Dutchman to lift the ball into the goal in the 72nd minute.
The visitors nearly restored parity but Pierre-Emile Hoejbjerg's low shot rattled only the right post in the closing period.
With the result, second-placed Dortmund hold their five-point gap to front-runners Bayern Munich whereas rivals Schalke slip from the fourth to the fifth place.
Elsewhere, Bremen edged last placed Augsburg 2-1 with two second-half goals.
Claudio Pizzaro opened the scoring for Bremen before Fin Bartels sealed the deal. Augsburg were only able to reduce the margin through Paul Verhaegh's converted hand ball penalty in the dying seconds of the game.
With the eighth loss of the season, Augsburg remain at the bottom while Bremen jump to the 14th place on the table.