Werder Bremen have recorded their fifth win of the season by holding off Augsburg to secure a 2-1 victory in the Bundesliga.
Wins had come at a premium for both sides so far this season, with bottom side Augsburg having won just one of their first 11 and the visitors enduring a run of just a single victory in their last seven matches, but it was the hosts who had the first effort on goal through Raul Bobadilla's weak strike.
Werder came within inches of opening the scoring after 13 minutes when Fin Bartels's volley hit the post after he had been found by Levin Oztunali as the visitors broke downfield quickly, but Bobadilla should have scored minutes later when he fired off target after breaking the line of defence.
The best chance of the first half fell to the home side after half an hour when former Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won was denied by a point blank save from Felix Wieldwald, and they were made to rue that missed opportunity 13 minutes after the restart.
Ulisses Garcia lifted a perfectly-weighted pass over the top of the Augsburg defence and Claudio Pizarro volleyed into the bottom corner to hand the visitors the advantage.
Augsburg tried to rally themselves after falling behind but Werder doubled their lead with a little over 20 minutes remaining thanks to a fine goal from Bartels, the midfielder knocking the ball past his marker and smashing home to give Werder some breathing space.
The Bundesliga bottom side were handed a late lifeline when Garcia handled the ball in the penalty area, but though Paul Verhaegh converted from the spot it was too little too late.
Tom Nightingale
