No respite on the home front for Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund, knocked out of the UEFA Cup in midweek, suffered another setback on the domestic front with a 2-1 loss to Hansa Rostock.

The 2002 German champions and former European titleholders remain in fifth place, 11 points behind Bundesliga leaders Stuttgart, after being undone by a second half double from Martin Max.

Sao Paulo-born striker Ewerthon scored Borussia's consolation goal.

In Sunday's other game Schalke 04 came away from a visit to second from bottom club Hertha Berlin with a 3-1 win which lifted them up a place to 11th.

Stuttgart, who were on a high after beating Scottish club Rangers 1-0 in midweek Champions League action, were unable to prolong their positive spell in a goalless fixture at VfL Bochum on Saturday.

The south western German club, who had won their last three home matches, were hampered by the absences of playmaker Alexander Hleb of Belarus and Brazilian defender Marcelo Bordon, both injured, and suspended Portuguese defender Fernando Meira.

Stuttgart, the only team still unbeaten this season, remained two points ahead of Werder Bremen, who drew 1-1 at SV Hamburg, and three ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 2-2 at home to 1860 Munich.

Bayern Munich drew 2-2 with Cologne prompting coach Ottmar Hitzfeld to describe his champions' perofrmance as disgraceful.

Peruvian Claudio Pizzaro looked to be helping Bayern Munich gain ground on their winless rivals with two goals but Cologne hit back to level affairs in the Bavarian capital.

Bayern Munich, six points adrift in fourth spot, will have been disappointed not to have made the most of their lead against Cologne.

And Hitzfeld said: "When Cologne pulled it back to 2-2 we got nervous. It was a disgraceful showing if you consider we have high hopes of winning the championship.

"I'm extremely disappointed - we had a great opportunity to win this match. We really should have gone ahead in the first half hour but we made mistakes which gave our opponents confidence."

Pizarro stabbed home twice from close in in the 42nd and 49 minutes for his sixth and seventh goals this season to give Bayern the lead but Alexander Voigt equalized for Cologne with half an hour left.

Cologne had taken the initial lead when a poor freekick by Bayern's Bosnian international Hasan Salihamidzic left Cologne midfielder Florian Kringe on the ball and he quickly passed to Andre Voronic who found himself with just keeper Oliver Kahn to beat. Voronin made no mistake to put the visitors in front on 35 minutes.

German league table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, against, points):

Note: Kaiserslautern deducted three points for illegal payments to avoid tax.