Hamburg stay up

Hamburg preserved their Bundesliga status without beating Greuther Furth as an away goal was enough to see them stay up.

Hamburg preserved their Bundesliga status even without beating Greuther Furth as an away goal was enough to see them stay up following a relegation/promotion play-off. Pierre-Michel Lasogga scored one of the most precious goals in the club's history to give Mirko Slomka's men the lead in the 14th minute. Stephan Furstner made it 1-1 but, despite the Bavarian side's efforts, they were unable to find a winner, meaning they remain in the second division while Hamburg's proud 51-year permanence in the top flight remains intact. With nine away defeats in a row, the omens were not so good for Hamburg, but they looked surprisingly confident to begin with. They almost took the lead in the 14th minute when Hakan Calhanoglu's shot struck the left-hand post and fell to Marcell Jansen, but his shot was turned behind by Wolfgang Hesl's leg. The danger was not fully averted, though, with Rafael van der Vaart's corner headed in by Lasogga to put Hamburg ahead. The visitors suffered a setback on the half-hour mark when Johann Djourou was forced to leave the field injured, Michael Mancienne taking his place. That seemed to be a psychological blow too as Furth started to gain the upper hand. Hamburg nearly doubled their lead early in the second half when Lasogga's header was saved well by Hesl, but then Furth moved up a gear, levelling in the 59th minute. Zoltan Stieber threaded the ball through the legs of Petr Jiracek to Furstner, who managed to place his shot past Jaroslav Drobny, who got a hand to the ball but could not keep it out. Former Werder Bremen forward Niklas Fullkrug was sent on as an additional striker as Furth threw all caution to the wind but, despite their efforts, they were unable to find a way through. Hamburg defended resolutely to maintain their place among Germany's top 18 clubs next season.