体坛英语新闻：Monchengladbach, Schalke win in German Bundesliga

BERLIN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Monchengladbach and Schalke started with victories into the second half of the campaign whereas Dortmund dropped to the bottom despite a draw with Leverkusen at the 18th round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

Fourth placed Monchengladbach increased Stuttgart's relegation worries following a 1-0 on the road.

The "Foals" staged a clinical chance conversion meanwhile relegation threatened Stuttgart remained wasteful in front of Monchengladbach's goal area. After a goalless first half Monchengladbach shocked the hosts with the opener at the 71st minute through Patrick Herrmann, who made use of Branimir Hrgota's diagonal pass to slot home from 11 meters at the inside right.

Stuttgart nearly restored parity in the dying minutes of the game but neither Vedad Ibisevic nor Georg Niedermeier were able to tap in golden opportunities. Thus, Monchengladbach recorded their eighth win of the season to climb on the third place with 30 points meanwhile Stuttgart remained caught in the drop zone with just 17 points from 18 games.

Ten-man Schalke started with a narrow 1-0 victory against Hannover into the second half of the season.

The "Royal Blues" opened the scoring at the half hour mark through Macro Hoeger, who capitalized on Christian Fuchs' pass into the box to make it 1-0 on the scoreboards with a long rang one-timer.

However, the hosts retracted with the narrow lead and were lucky as Hannover lacked in accuracy. Schalke invited even Hannover to level the scores as Klaas Jan Huntelaar weakened his side with a rude foul play to see a straight red card five minutes before the final whistle.

Nevertheless, Hannover were unable to take advantage. With the result, Schalke jump on the fourth place with 27 points while Hannover remains on the eighth place.

Borussia Dortmund shared the spoils with Leverkusen following a goalless draw. Despite earning a vital point, Dortmund slumped to the last place of the standings. Both sides failed to turn their few chances into a tangible reward over 90 minutes. Leverkusen's Gonzalo Castro worked out the first chance of the game when he forced Dortmund defender Mats Hummels to make a clearance on the goal line with a diving header at the 39th minute.

Dortmund turned up after the restart but Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno was on guard when Ciro Immobile and Marco Reus got their efforts on target. However, the draw is insufficient for both sides, as Leverkusen slipped off their third place, a UEFA Champions League spot, to the fifth place while Dortmund slumped to the last place of the standings with only 16 points from 18 matches.

Relegation threatened Freiburg came from behind to stun Frankfurt 4-1 thanks to the hat trick by new arrival Nils Petersen.

Elsewhere, Mainz humiliated newly promoted Paderborn 5-0 by courtesy of Yunus Malli's brace and, Cologne's Marcel Risse donated two goals to down struggling Hamburg 2-0 on the road.

The following fixtures will conclude the 18th round of Bundesliga. Relegation threatened Bremen face Berlin and Augsburg host Hoffenheim.