Werder, hoping to stretch their lead to five points, fell behind in the seventh minute when Alexander Frei pounced on a mistake from Clemens Fritz.

Miroslav Klose scored an exceptional equaliser but Brazilian midfielder Tinga was left free at a corner to restore the Dortmund lead nine minutes after the break.

Dortmund made certain when Marc-Andre Kruska netted a penalty five minutes from time following a foul on Nelson Valdez.

Werder have 23 points from 12 games following their third defeat of the league season and their first since mid-September.

VfB Stuttgart, with 21 points, will overtake them if they win at Hanover 96 on Sunday.

Before then, third-placed Schalke will be aiming to move level on points with Werder by beating Mainz at home on Saturday, while Bayern Munich can move back to within three points of Werder if they win at Bayer Leverkusen.

Victory for Dortmund was enough to move them up to fourth on 18 points.

Werder looked to be feeling the effects of their hard won league game against Nuremberg on Tuesday as Dortmund enjoyed much the better of the first half.

"We were too passive," coach Thomas Schaaf told reporters. "We let them play their game."

Schaaf's side only had themselves to blame for opening goal, which came when former Bremen player Valdez ran on to a long pass from Nuri Sahin and crossed low.

Fritz had a simple clearance but he succeeded only in flicking the ball up for Frei to head in at the far post.

Werder created little before Klose brought them back level. The Germany striker took a pass from Jurica Vranjes on the left, turned the Dortmund defence inside out and beat keeper Roman Weidenfeller with a cool shot.

Ebi Smolarek missed two chances for Dortmund before another defensive mistake gave Tinga a flick header for the second.

Klose had two efforts saved at point-blank range before Werder hopes were finally snuffed out with Kruska's penalty.