Hertha Berlin ensured they would head into the winter break riding high in third place in the Bundesliga table following a thumping victory over lowly Karlsruhe.
Maximilian Nicu had opened the scoring after just eight minutes before all three of Hertha Berlin's substitutes found the net in the second half to seal the win.
Valeri Domovchiyski was the first of those players to find the net, in the 74th minute, before Fabian Lustenberger and Raffael joined in on the act with late goals of their own.
The result wraps up Hertha´s best-ever start to a season, which finds them just two points behind current leaders Bayern Munich.
The hosts set the pace early, with Stefan Buck failing to clear a left-wing cross from Cicero.
It landed at the feet of Nicu whose first-time shot flew into the bottom-left corner for the lead.
Karlsruhe tried hard to stay in the game, but Berlin were creating the better chances, with unmarked Marko Pantelic misdirecting a header in the 30th minute, while Cicero was denied by Markus Miller following a back-heel from Andriy Voronin.
Edmond Kapplani then wasted a golden chance to equalise following a poor clearance from Berlin skipper Arne Friedrich, but the out-of-form striker had his six-yard shot blocked by Marc Stein.
The visitors upped pressure in the second period, pushing Berlin into their own half, but it was to no avail, with Jaroslav Drobny making a string of good saves.
The goalkeeper stood tall to deny Sebastian Freis on a break-away and also diverted the striker's follow-up before denying Lars Stindl from a sharp left angle with a leg save.
Hertha made Karlsruhe pay for their poor execution when Pantelic played in Domovchiyski on a counter-attack. The substitute made no mistake and fired the ball into the top-left corner to double the lead.
Lustenberger then grabbed the third goal of the afternoon after 86 minutes following a nice combination, which left him with space and time in the box. After his first shot bounced off the left post he had no problem to place the ball into the empty net with his second attempt.
Two minutes later Raffael beat Miller with a low shot from 14 yards out on the left to ice the result.
