The visitors got the game rolling shooting towards to the right hand side of the Imtech arena. Nico Müller got both teams off the mark in terms of shots with a tame effort a minute or so in. Djourou and Cleber were caught out and Seferovic stormed through but failed to capitalise on Hamburg's centre backs indecisiveness.
Despite a nervy start, things improved drastically for the hosts as early as the tenth minute when they began to settle after a long period in possession. Behrami was fortunate to escape a booking as he left his mark on Hasebe. Minutes later, The Swiss national, was then booked for another foul on Hasebe.
Hasebe sent a costless kick deep into the Hamburg box and Russ headed down into the hands of Drobny. Up the other end, Arslan came within inches of playing Lasogga straight through but Frankfurt were well placed to avert the danger.
Hamburg set a new Bundesliga record midway through the half after going a whole 475 minutes without scoring in the league this season, surpassing previous holders VfL Bochum who held the record since 1979.
Frankfurt broke and ran at a split Hamburg defence but luckily for the hosts, the shaky Cleber got back in time to muscle Seferovic off the ball. Müller swung in a corner and Cleber almost turned into a hero as he met it with his head and guided it goalwards, only for Wiedwald to palm clear.
There were calls for a Hamburg penalty on the half hour mark as Oczipka mowed down Müller but referee, Florian Meyer shook his head in disapproval and waved played on. There was a huge scramble in the box in the last five minutes as Frankfurt continually made a hash of clearing a Hamburg costless kick.
Chandler bent the ball round the advancing full back and Cleber made yet another mess in defence. The ball rolled to Seferovic who slotted home in off the leg of Cleber to break the deadlock and give Frankfurt the unlikely lead at the half.
Both sides came out unchanged and the hosts got the game rolling again. Lasogga fired towards Wiedwald in the early exchanges and the rookie had to gather the shot at the second time of asking.
Frankfurt's Hasebe hit a corner towards the near post and the ball bobbled out to Aigner who lashed the ball well wide and over. As play switched up the other end, Holtby was sent through but with his first touch he knocked it round the wrong side of Wiedwald and as a consequence couldn't get his foot round the ball to find the empty net.
Müller drew Hamburg level and ended the drought just before the hour mark. Holtby threaded through the former Mainz man and despite being accompanied by Lasogga, he went it alone and slotted under Wiedwald.
Müller fired one into the box but Russ managed to do just enough to put off an outstretched Lasogga from giving Hamburg the lead. Anderson and Wiedwald just managed to communicate as they were almost deceived by a long ball.
Seferovic cut inside from the counter but he failed to keep his shot under control and wasted a rare Frankfurt opportunity. Behrami went for a long diagonal ball over the top but the ball picked up pace and late sub Rudnevs couldn't get on the end of it.
In the dying embers, Medojevic was taken out by Jiracek and the visitors were awarded a costless kick thirty or so yards out. Up stepped loanee Piazon, who with the most spectacular technique found the net and left Drobny as still as a statue in the Hamburg goals.
The referee called time on the game two minutes shy of the announced additional four minutes leaving Hamburg remaining winless.
On the bright side, Müller's goal showed a different side to Hamburg that had been missing in the previous five match days and should they be able to play similarly in the rest of their games, they should have no bother in staying up.