Hannover hold Dortmund

Eurosport - Hannover 96 twice came from behind in a furious second-half spell to earn a 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. Ebi Smolarek opened the scoring with a tap-in after five minutes and Dortmund stayed in control before three goals in four minutes levelled up the match.

Vahid Hashemian grabbed the first equaliser in the 74th minute. Smolarek put Dortmund back in front almost immediately but two minutes later Szabolcs Huszti had Hannover level again.

The draw ruined Dortmund's hopes of joining the league leaders overnight. With six games played they are seventh with eight points. Hannover are 14th with five points.

Bayern Munich, who have 10 points and lead the standings on goals scored from Schalke 04, are at bottom club VfL Wolfsburg in one of six games on Saturday. Schalke face a tricky visit to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

Dortmund controlled the first half and looked on course for a comfortable win after Florian Kringe struck the post, giving Smolarek an easy chance for his opening goal.

Vinicius Bergantin had to clear an Alexander Frei header off the line to stop going Dortmund 2-0 up in the 26th minute and the home side went close again a few minutes later when Steven Pienaar hit the post with a long-range shot.

Hanover created virtually nothing before Hashemian's right-foot shot from Jan Rosenthal's nod down brought the game back to life with 16 minutes left.

Smolarek took Tinga's pass to make it 2-1 but while Dortmund fans were still celebrating Hashemian set up Hungarian Huszti for Hannover's second.