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Newcomers Hoffenheim held on to their slim Bundesliga lead despite drawing 1-1 with bottom-of-the-table Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Hoffenheim needed a goal by Brazilian striker Wellington a minute from time to grab the draw and stay top, two clear of Hertha Berlin.

Contenders Hamburg SV squandered a two-goal lead, losing 3-2 against Karlsruhe SC and stay third.

Moenchengladbach stunned the league leaders a minute before the break when Alexander Baumjohann, who will join Bayern Munich next season, floated the ball over keeper Daniel Haas.

Hoffenheim, the village team who have set the pace with a squad of relatively unknown professionals, needed more than 20 minutes to carve out a decent chance and lacked the attacking edge that has seen them score the most goals in the Bundesliga this season.

Even the return of striker Chinedu Obasi, who came on for Selim Teber after 62 minutes, did little to improve a front line desperately missing injured top scorer Vedad Ibisevic.

Wellington finally broke the deadlock in the 89th when he beat three defenders to head home the equaliser.

Hamburg looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory when Paolo Guerrero put the visitors in the lead after six minutes with a low shot after combining well with David Jarolim.

Collin Benjamin added a second in the 47th with a low drive from 12 metres after a swift move by Jarolim on the left but celebrations were short-lived with the hosts pulling one back sixty seconds later through Sebastian Freis.

They grabbing the equaliser in the 53rd with Giovanni Federico.

Freis stunned Hamburg deep into stoppage time when he rose above the defence to power his header into the net and lift his team to 15th place.

Hamburg had striker Mladen Petric sent off for shoving an opponent after a foul in the 76th while Karlsruhe also ended up with 10 men when Marco Engelhardt was sent off with a second yellow card in the 82nd.

VfB Stuttgart climbed up to sixth place and remained unbeaten in the league under coach Markus Babbel, who took over in November, when they swept past Bayer Leverkusen 4-2, with striker Mario Gomez scoring a brace.

Troubled Schalke 04, in ninth place, managed to beat Werder Bremen 1-0 and end a string of bad results to leave their opponents anchored in 10th.

Reuters