Andriy Voronin scored a hat-trick as Hertha Berlin came from behind to beat struggling Energie Cottbus and extend their lead atop the Bundesliga standings.
Cagdas Atan had fired Cottbus in front after 21 minutes but Voronin, who is on loan from Liverpool, levelled matters 13 minutes later.
The Ukrainian striker then netted at the end of each half to earn Hertha a convincing win which moves them four points clear of the chasing pack.
Defeat for Cottbus keeps them in the bottom three, just three points above basement boys Karlsruhe who also lost today.
Despite Hertha's position at the head of the table going into the match, it was Cottbus who dominated the early stages.
There was a touch of luck about their opener when Atan fired in a low left-footed free-kick which went through the legs of goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny and hit the back of the net.
Hertha were almost embarrassed further four minutes later when Gabriel Jula found himself unmarked in the visitors' area, but he could only find the crossbar with his 10-yard strike.
It was a huge let-off for the league leaders, and they took advantage after 34 minutes through Voronin, who got his head to a perfect cross from Patrick Ebert and directed the ball into the top left corner.
And the visitors took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Raffael's drilled effort across the face of goal was turned in by Voronin from a few yards out.
The Ukrainian could have completed his hat-trick seven minutes after the restart but somehow missed the target from close range.
However, he achieved the feat two minutes from time with a brilliant individual goal, picking up the ball in his own half and winding his way past several defenders into the penalty area before producing a neat finish from 12 yards.
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