Borussia Dortmund went up just one place to ninth in the Bundesliga after Friday's 2-0 win at home to bottom club Hertha Berlin.

Nuri Sahin's penalty on the hour and Lucas Barrios' unstoppable strike in injury time sentenced Hertha to their sixth away defeat in six so far this season.

The nearest the visitors came was in the 75th minute when Lukasz Piszczek was within inches of an equaliser, his stinging right-foot shot hitting the post from the edge of the penalty area.

Dortmund dominated the first half, despite having to make a substitution in only the 17th minute after left-back Dede failed to recover from an earlier clash of heads in the home box.

In that same passage of play, Hertha had strong appeals for a penalty turned down after Raffael's shot appeared to be handled by Nelson Valdez.

But apart from a well-struck 11th-minute shot from Gojko Kaca straight at goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, it was all Dortmund.

Barrios headed over just after the quarter-hour; Mohamed Zidane shot over from inside the penalty area on 32 minutes, and after 38 Mats Hummels was wide with another header.

Dortmund started brightly after the break too, Valdez just wide with a shot from 12 yards - before the same player was wrestled to the ground by Kacar as Hertha conceded the penalty for Sahin's opener.

The hosts went close again soon afterwards, Barrios heading straight at Jaroslav Drobny - and almost regretted their misses when Piszczek rattled the post.

Ten minutes from time, Dimitar Rangelov tested Drobny with a 35-yard free-kick. But when Barrios got his late chance after turning Arne Friedrich in the area straight from a throw-in, he gave the goalkeeper no chance with his right-foot drive into the top corner.