Hamburger SV were made to sweat right until the end against Mainz 05 before ultimately securing a 2-1 win in this afternoon's Bundesliga clash at the Imtech Arena.
The game proved scrappy in the opening stages, with the first effort not coming until the 11th minute,when Junior Diaz's shot from outside was efficiently blocked.
Three minutes later, Pierre-Michel Lasogga saw his shot for the hosts saved by Loris Karius, before Petr Jiracek also forced a stop from the Mainz keeper just a minute later.
Hamburg kept up the pressure and were rewarded in the 32nd minute when Cleber powered into the box and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Mainz dug themselves into even more of a hole when Nikolce Noveski gifted the hosts a penalty following a handball in the area, which Rafael van der Vaart tucked into the bottom left corner to double Hamburg's lead.
The visitors improved as the game went on and provided several decent moments in front of goal, culminating in Shinji Okazaki heading home from close range in the 89th minute.
Mainz then launched a late assault on the Hamburg goal in a bid to secure an equaliser right at the death, but it proved too little, too late.
Giuseppe Labellarte
