BERLIN, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- German soccer powerhouse Werder Bremen crushed Bochum 1848 4-1 at an away game on Sunday, while Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese failed to break the club record of Oliver Reck's for most Bundesliga minutes without conceding a goal.

    Thanks to the victory, Werder are up to third, just a point behind second placed team Bayer Leverkusen, whereas Bochum drop to17th position, with only Hertha now beneath them.

    Bochum performed a furious start while Werder Bremen staged an unorganized defense unit.

    Wiese needed to just go another 22 minutes without conceding to break the record, but his hopes were shattered within seconds of the start of the first half.

    Shinji Ono set Slovakian striker Stanislav Sestak through on goal, and he finished with considerable aplomb to give the home side a crucial lead and put pay to Wiese's dreams of breaking the record.

    The home side could have even been 2-0 up inside the first three minutes, Mimoun Azaoaugh hitting the post with Werder still in a state of complete shellshock.

    They then the woodwork again after 7 minutes, this time Christian Fuchs hitting the crossbar, as Bochum looked to further capitalize on their unbelievable start.

    However, Werder showed their credentials as possible Bundesliga title hopefuls by turning the game on its head by half time.

    The equalizer came against the run of play on 9 minutes; Bremenstriker Oezil whipped in a corner from the right, the ball was flicked on by Claudio Pizarro for Aaron Hunt to steal in at the back post and restore parity for the visitors with virtually their first chance of the game.

    After that setback, Bremen started to push on and came increasingly more into the game. On 32 minutes they made their dominance pay; after Hunt had dodged around Bochum keeper Philipp Meerwagen before having his effort cleared off the line, 20-year-old Marko Marin was on hand to slot home his first goal in Bremen colours, to ensure that they would be ahead at half time by two goals to one.

    Bochum could have grabbed an equalizer on 66 minutes; Azaouagh flicked header from a corner, but Tim Wiese made an excellent save at full stretch to deny him.

    That save was to prove to be a pivotal event in the game, as Werder grabbed a third on 76 minutes which effectively took the game away from Frank Heinemann's struggling side.

    It was true "route one" football from Werder; Frings putting a free kick long towards Tim Borowski, who somehow found himself through on goal against Meerwagen and duly obliged to put the game to bed and seal a sixth victory of the season for Thomas Schaaf's in form side.

    Oezil then grabbed the goal of the game in injury time, lashing home a strike from the left hand corner of the penalty box beyond Meerwagen and into the far corner to polish off an impressive display from him and his side.