VfL Wolfsburg and Cologne both booked their places in the last 16 of the German Cup Tuesday with comfortable wins against lower league opposition while Hertha Berlin crashed out, dpa reported.
Under-fire coach Steve McClaren breathed a sigh of relief as Wolfsburg beat non-league SC Victoria 3-1 while Cologne secured a 3-0 victory over second-division 1860 Munich.
Peter Pekarik opened the scoring for Wolfsburg after 17 minutes and second-half goals from Josue on 52 and Marcel Schaefer three minutes later ensured there would be no cup shock to witness for the over 8,000 fans at St Pauli's Millerntor stadium.
Stephan Rahn netted a consolation goal for Victoria 19 minutes from time.
Caretaker coach Frank Schaefer got off to the perfect start in his new post with Cologne as second-half goals from Martin Lanig, Milivoje Novakovic and Lukas Podolski ensured victory over 1860 Munich.
Former Under-23 coach Schaefer replaced sacked Croatian coach Zvonimir Soldo after Cologne lost 2-1 away to Hanover 96 at the weekend to sit bottom of the Bundesliga.
Second-division league leaders Hertha Berlin crashed out 2-1 to third-division Koblenz to suffer their first competitive loss of the season.
Michael Stahl put Koblenz ahead on the hour mark with a shot from all of 50 metres and Marcus Steegmann extended the home side's lead from the penalty spot on 71 minutes.
Hertha were reduced to 10 men when Raffael saw a straight red card but still managed to reduce the deficit two minutes from time through Adrian Ramos.