Nuremberg have picked up three vital points in their battle against relegation from the Bundesliga with a 2-0 home victory over fellow strugglers Fortuna Dusseldorf.

The hosts could have taken the lead as early as the fifth minute when Hanno Balitsch turned Mike Frantz's cross towards the Fortuna goal, but his attempt went high and wide.

Six minutes later Balitsch failed to keep his header from close range on target and soon after Timo Gebhart's shot sailed high.

The hosts' domination eventually paid off as Sebastian Polter gave them the lead in the 27th minute with a shot from the right side of the six-yard box.

Four minutes later Balitsch went close to making it 2-0 to Nuremberg when he headed Gebhart's cross towards the Fortuna goal only to see Fabian Giefer make a save.

The visitors had a good chance to level the score in the first minute of the second half when Ken Ilso's delivery found Dani Schahin in a good position, but the forward's header went wide.

Then in the 79th minute Javier Pinola latched on to Markus Feulner's pass to shoot wide and high from distance.

Nuremberg ascertained the points in the final minute of normal time when Tomas Pekhart found Feulner in a good position for the midfielder to fire in from outside the box.