Hamburg move up Bundesliga, Frankfurt smash hapless Bremen

Hamburg's relegation concerns were eased with a 2-1 home win over Mainz on Sunday. The Northern German club have been stuck at the bottom for several months but have made an impressive recent recovery under head coach Josef Zinnbauer.

In the three months of Zinnbauer's tenure, Hamburg's home record looks good on the eye - one defeat in six matches. The only loss at the Imtech Arena came in the dying moments as a result of Lucas Piazon's outrageous free-kick in the defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.

But facing an uninspiring Mainz team without a win in their last five games, Hamburg had enough quality on the park to get the job done. They may have scored only seven goals in 13 games going into the match, but Mainz had lost 11 of their previous 12 league away outings and so the home side had the best of a drab first half.

Hamburg, playing an attacking 4-4-2 system, turned up the heat on Mainz around the half hour mark, with Nicolai Müller dribbling around the Mainz keeper Loris Karius only for Daniel Brosinski to block dramatically.

A few moments later, Karius was beaten by a fierce right-foot shot from Brazilian defender Cleber Reis to hand the home side lead that was probably deserved. Müller had one or two half-chances before the half-time interval, but Mainz, insipid in attack, held out.

The home side took only eight minutes to add a second goal to the scoreline. A cross from Dennis Diekmeier struck the outstretched arm of Mainz captain Nikolce Noveski and Rafael Van der Vaart slotted past Karius from the resulting spot-kick to seal the win.

Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki had time to add his eighth league goal of the season in the 89th minute, but it proved to be just a late consolation.

Hamburg are now up to 12th - eight points off a Champions League spot - while Kasper Hjulmand's Mainz are now only one point ahead as their winless streak continues.

Schaaf slams old friends

In the late game on Sunday, Thomas Schaaf watched his Eintracht Frankfurt team move to seventh in the table with a 5-2 demolition of his former club Werder Bremen, with five goals coming in the second half.

Schaaf was in charge for 479 games over a 14-year spell at the Weser Stadion and enjoyed successes such as winning the German championship in 2004 and reaching the UEFA Cup Final in 2008 .

While he will not have enjoyed seeing his old colleagues going down so heavily, Frankfurt produced some highly effective football on the counterattack late in the game.

After a slow start, the home side took the lead on 35 minutes with Alexander Meier steering into an empty net following a strike from Marc Stendera which rebounded off the post. The 31-year-old Meier would get more joy in front of goal, but that strike moved him to the summit of the league's scoring charts.

Bremen responded two minutes before the break with Gebre Selassie heading past Felix Wiedwald from Zlatko Junuzovic's corner-kick.

The parity was short-lived, however, with Haris Seferovic bundling home his fifth goal of the campaign after the restart following a clash with Bremen goalkeeper Raphael Wolf, which frustrated the injured keeper's team-mates.

Frankfurt poured forward after the hour mark, with Stefan Aigner diverting his own team-mate's header over the bar from near to the goalline, and Felix Kroos - brother of World Cup winner Toni - bending a sweet 25-yarder against the woodwork.

Three minutes later, Frankfurt extended their advantage with Meier prodding home the rebound from Aigner's shot against the post to take his tally for the season to 10 goals. With a quarter of an hour to go, right-sided midfielder Aigner put his name on the scoresheet, tucking home unmarked from close-range.

Bremen did pull one back soon after through Luca Caldirola, but the best was kept for last when prodigious young midfielder Stendera volleyed home with ten minutes remaining.

The Northern Germans' form takes a dent after three wins from four under Viktor Skripnik and they have now conceded 31 goals - the joint-highest in the division after 14 games. Bremen stay second from bottom.

Eintracht Frankfurt bounce up to seventh on 21 points and are two off a Champions League slot.