Hamburg's Croatia international Mladen Petric scored a last-minute winner in a 2-1 victory at Energie Cottbus on Sunday to move the club three points clear at the top of the German league table.

Hamburg, a low-profile club with an impressive attack, having scored 14 goals in their seven matches to date, thanked Petric's intervention for their fifth win of the season.

Hamburg had taken the lead early in the second half when Paolo Guerrero turned his marker on the right of the area and sent in a skidding shot that Gerhard Tremmel could only turn into the path of Ivica Olic, who gratefully tapped in.

Earlier, Cottbus' Serbian striker Branko Jelic had equalized in the 73rd minute to cancel out Croatian Ivica Olic's 53rd minute opener.

Hamburg have 16 points, three ahead of both Hoffenheim, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt with two goals from Demba Ba, and VfB Stuttgart, who thrashed Werder Bremen 4-1 on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen dropped from second to fourth, four points adrift, following a 1-0 home defeat to Hertha Berlin.

(Agencies via China Daily October 7, 2008)