Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen shrugged off their Bundesliga woes with second round cup victories on Tuesday while Hanover and Hertha Berlin became the latest top flight casualties.

Ciro Immobile returned into Dortmund’s starting 11 to score the first and set up Marco Reus’ second in a 3-0 at second division St Pauli Hamburg. Shinji Kagawa scored a late third.

Bremen prevailed 2-0 at division three side Chemnitz from Fin Bartels and Franco di Santo to give their new coach Viktor Skripnik a winning start.

Hanover crashed 2-0 at second division side Aalen, and Hertha went out 4-2 on penalties at third division Arminia Bielefeld.

That brought the number of ousted Bundesliga clubs to seven, and the figure will rise to at least nine once the other games have been played Wednesday - when SV Hamburg play holders Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt host Borussia Moenchengladbach in two all-Bundesliga duels.

Dortmund came to St Pauli off a league-worst sixth defeat for a dismal 15th place, 1-0 at home against Hanover, and coach Juergen Klopp made six changes in the starting 11.

The new men included Immobile who had an early strike harshly disallowed for offside, but tapped the opener in the 33rd after a swift string of passes.

The Italian then fed Reus for the second on the stroke of half-time, and Kagawa took full advantage of a bad clearance from goalkeeper Philipp Tschauner to wrap up matters for Dortmund ahead of their next Bundesliga dates with leaders Munich and second-placed Moenchengladbach.

“All that counts is reaching the next round,” Dortmund captain Mats Hummels told ARD TV. “Now we face a great challenge in Bayern. You can gain confidence in such a game.”

In Chemnitz, Bartels chipped Bremen’s first in the 31st, three minutes after Chemnitz striker Anton Fink was denied by the post. Di Santo wrapped up matters shortly after the restart against the hosts who had eliminated Mainz in the first round.

The former Bremen player and under-23 team trainer Skripnik was appointed coach on Saturday in succession of Robin Dutt. The six-time cup winners and four-time Bundesliga champions Bremen are winless last in the league after nine games.

“I am happy with this important victory ... Of course we were lucky in the first half but I will not complain if we win every game with a little luck,” Skripnik said.

Goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow was the hero in Bielefeld when - after a dour 0-0 in 120 minutes - he saved penalties from Hertha’s Julian Schieber and Sandro Wagner. Marc Lorenz clinched the shoot-out win.

Hanover crashed in Aalen from Ceyhun Gulselam’s own goal and Michael Klauss.

Cologne narrowly avoided Hanover’s and Hertha’s fate, beating third division Duisburg 4-1 on penalties although they had Slawomir Peszko sent off in the 71st of 120 scoreless minutes. Cologne keeper Timo Horn saved twice in the shoot-out.

Fourth-division Kickers Offenbach beat second tier Karlsruhe 1-0;

Kaiserslautern won a second division duel with Greuther Fuerth 2-0; and Schalke’s first-round conquerers Dynamo Dresden of the third division prevailed 2-1 in extra time against second division Bochum.

 

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