Lively Leverkusen back on song

By Mark Bennett

Bayer 04 Leverkusen reignited their Bundesliga campaign by recording their biggest away win of the season on Sunday, cruising to a 3-0 victory away against mid-table Hannover 96.

Diving header
Leverkusen got off to a nervous start in the AWD-Arena and Hannover dominated much of the early action. But on 18 minutes Paul Freier made a great run down the right flank before picking out Ukrainian international Andrej Voronin, who gave Leverkusen the lead with a spectacular diving header.

One-way traffic
After that is was almost one-way traffic as Dimitar Berbatov and Freier sealed a comfortable win before the hour. The three points lifted UEFA Champions League contenders Leverkusen up into sixth place, Klaus Augenthaler's side's highest position since September.

Bochum comeback
Elsewhere, Hertha BSC Berlin missed out on the chance to move fourth when they let slip a two-goal lead away against VfL Bochum 1848. Nando Rafael and Gilberto had given Hertha a comfortable lead inside the first 16 minutes, but Bochum bounced back to earn a 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Peter Madsen and Vratislav Lokvenc either side of the break.