Stuttgart coach Felix Magath has been indebted to his defence this season and they came up with the goods at the other end of the pitch with defensive stalwarts Zvonomir Soldo and Fernando Meira on the scoresheet.

"Apart from the opening few minutes - when we lacked concentration - we were in control of the match," enthused Magath. "Scoring an early goal settled us down."

The Stuttgart rearguard has now not been breached in seven Bundesliga matches and goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand just needs to fend off the Cologne attack for 68 minutes next Saturday to break the record of Bayern Munich custodian Oliver Kahn which stands at 802 minutes.

Stuttgart face a real test of their progress on Wednesday when English champions Manchester United visit the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium for a Champions League duel.

Bayern needed a late strike from 18.75-million-euro Dutch striker Makaay to steal all three points against Hansa Rostock at the Ostseestadion.

The Dutchman scored his fifth goal in four matches with four minutes remaining to get a makeshift Bayern back to winning ways after a 3-2 defeat by VfL Wolfsburg and a 3-3 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

"The numerous personnel changes were noticeable," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. "We responded to the Rostock equaliser but the win was fortunate."

A leaky defence will still concern Hitzfeld ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match away to Anderlecht.

Seven goals conceded in the last three matches tells its own story and Bayern, who gave a Bundesliga debut to Argentine defender Martin Demichelis, continue to look unconvincing at the back as Thomas Linke's own goal illustrated.

Bayer Leverkusen ended VfL Wolfsburg's 100 percent record at the Volkswagen Arena with a 1-0 triumph to continue their impressive start to the new season, although coach Klaus Augenthaler conceded his team were fortunate.

German international Bernd Schneider scored the decisive goal to help Bayer to keep pace at the top of the table, although they slip to third after Werder Bremen's 4-1 thrashing of Cologne.