Hamburger SV won 2-0 at Augsburg on Friday to finally appear comfortable in the Bundesliga after a terrible start to the season.
Son Heung-Min and Artjoms Rudnevs scored in each half for the visitors, who lost their opening three league games.
''To win is always nice,'' said Rafael van der Vaart, whose side bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Stuttgart. ''Last week we played well, and today we showed again that we can fight. Every one of us wanted to win.''
But Hamburg started poorly, and had goalkeeper Rene Adler to thank for denying Kevin Vogt in the fourth minute. Son scored his fifth goal of the season against the run of play in the 13th, cutting inside a defender from the right before unleashing a shot that flew inside the far post.
Tobias Werner should have equalized after the break but failed to direct his header on target - a recurring theme for Augsburg, which created nearly twice as many goal opportunities.
''It wasn't what we wanted,'' said Hamburg coach Thorsten Fink. ''We allowed far too many chances.''
Rudnevs made the game safe in the 63rd, when Van der Vaart played a perfect through-ball for the Latvia striker to blast past the helpless Simon Jentzsch.
Tobias Werner headed a golden opportunity wide before Baier and Knowledge Musona wasted chances.
The same trio who were involved in the opening goal combined again, with Son this time starting the move by finding Van der Vaart, who in turn set up Rudnevs to hammer a shot into the roof of the net.
This time, Augsburg's heads understandably dropped. Having controlled the game for an hour, they found themselves with a mountain to climb just to get a point, yet they no longer had the energy to overcome even a foothill as they admitted defeat.
''We tried hard. But I think we could have played another three hours without scoring,'' Jentzsch said. ''It means we have to keep working.''
Hamburg was provisionally fourth before the rest of the ninth round was played. Hamburg's next game is at home to Bayern on Nov. 3.
