Hamburg earn vital points, Frankfurt crush Werder Bremen in Bundesliga

Hamburg climbed out of the relegation zone after a 2-1 win over Mainz

Berlin, Dec 8 (IANS) Hamburg climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to a 2-1 win over Mainz while Frankfurt defeated Werder Bremen 5-2 thanks to four second half goals at the close of the 14th round in the German Bundesliga.

Hamburg Sunday earned vital points in the relegation battle as the "HSV" snatched three points against Mainz, who wait for a win since six games, reports Xinhua. Struggling Hamburg took over from the kick-off considering their alarming position in the standings meanwhile Mainz implemented a wait-and-see strategy.

However, opportunities remained a rare occurrence until the half hour mark as Cleber Janderson Pereira Reis broke the deadlock for the hosts. The Brazilian defender capitalised on a failed clearance attempt by Mainz's Nikolce Noveski to unleash an unstoppable effort to give Hamburg the lead in the 32nd minute.

After the restart, Mainz started where they left off by defending deep in their own half whereas Hamburg remained in control of the proceedings on the pitch. So, Hamburg doubled the lead nine minutes into the second half when Rafael van der Vaart converted a controversial handball penalty into the bottom left corner of the net.

The 2-0 lead for Hamburg made the game safe although Mainz reduced the lead out of the blue through Shinji Okazaki in the dying minutes of the game. With their fourth win of the season, Hamburg climbed out of the relegation zone and into the 13th position whilst Mainz slipped to 11th place.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt moved into touching distance of the top six as they crushed Werder Bremen 5-2. Frankfurt took the reins after the start yet they had to wait until the 34th minute when Alexander Meier utilised a rebound from the woodwork to tap in from very close range.

Bremen posed absolutely no threat during the first half although they restored parity against the run of play when Theodor Gebre Selassie headed home a corner kick just before the interval.

The "Eagles" remained unimpressed and grabbed a 2-1 lead seven minutes into the second half as Haris Seferovic slotted home a cross to the far post by Takashi Inui.

Frankfurt kept the pressure as Alexander Meier made it 3-1 on the scoreboards to seal his brace and to defend his top position in the goal getter standings with 10 goals from 13 games.

The hosts made use of their momentum extending the lead to 4-1 as Stefan Aigner got his name on the score sheets. Bremen were able to reduce the lead to 4-2 when Luca Caldirola was on target to spark hopes.

Nevertheless, Marc Stendera rounded off the 5-2 victory when he destroyed all hopes of a comeback by Bremen moments later. Frankfurt jumped to the seventh place, whereas Bremen slump to second last in the table.