Hamburg stay in hunt for title

BERLIN: Hamburg SV scored twice in the first half to beat visitors Energie Cottbus 2-0 on Sunday and stay within four points of Bundesliga leaders Hertha Berlin.

Fourth-placed Hamburg are level on 45 points with VfL Wolfsburg, who beat Schalke 4-3 on Friday and second-placed Bayern Munich, 3-0 winners at VfL Bochum on Saturday. Hertha, who beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 on Saturday, have 49 points.

In a lackluster match Hamburg needed only a brief good spell to sink Cottbus closer towards relegation.