The situation was simple: by 5:30, the clock could stop ticking for Hamburg, and they needed a win to stop that becoming a reality.

When Kaçar's header put the Dinosaurs 1-0 up at Stuttgart, relegation was seemingly far away, but a two goal swing and other results meant HSV found themselves in the bottom two again. As for Schalke, they knew that with a defeat and an Augsburg win, they could finish the season 6th. 

Knowing they needed the three points, it was an attacking line-up from Hamburg, with two up front in Olic and Lasogga, as well as Holtby being given a start.

They rushed forward in the 2nd minute after a cleared corner, but Holtby was adjudged to have fouled while trying to run on to Kaçar's flick. Meanwhile, early goals for Hannover and Paderborn rooted HSV to the bottom on the live table.

The early attacking impetous came from the home side, with Kaçar proving influential just as he has been through the last part of the season. The Hamburg fans were doing their best to create a hostile atmosphere, and Schalke seemed to be letting the nerves get to them.

Höger got space to shoot in the 22nd minute, but curled his effort straight at Adler when he would have liked to do better.

Kolasinac was lucky to only receive a yellow card for a challenge on Holtby on 25 minutes as he lunged in, providing Hamburg with a dangerous situation. 

Lasogga was forced off early with a recurrence of the shoulder injury he sustained in the last game. He was replaced by Rudnevs on 28 minutes.

HSV, who had just 23 goals all season, needed to make sure they weren't committing too many men forward. As news came through Stuttgart had levelled against Paderborn, Rudnevs found space to shoot but curled his shot well wide eight minutes before the break.

There was a scare from Schalke on the 40th minute when a corner wasn't cleared, and teenager Friedrich stabbed goalwards but without the necessary power to test the man on the post.

Huntelaar had a big chance two minutes later as Diaz played him onside, but he scuffed his effort wide of the far right post from inside the area, an effort you would expect him to score.

At half time the teams entered the break at 0-0. Hamburg had 45 minutes to save their Bundesliga status; but in all truth they rarely threatened aside from long range efforts. As things stood, a win would be enough, and Bruno Labbadia will have reminded his team of that heading into the second half.

Huntelaar had another chance straight after the break as he received the ball on the left corner of the box before cutting back, but his shot trickled at Adler.

The drama was always just around the corner in this game, and it was provided in the 50th minute as Hamburg took the lead. A corner wasn't cleared, and Ivica Olic produced a heroic finish that left Fährmann rooted to his spot. 1-0 HSV, and as things stood they were safe.

HSV grew in confidence, and on 54 minutes Ilicevic should have done better with his shot from twenty yards.

When they needed to most, Hamburg responded to the pressure and doubled their lead just before the hour. Holtby put in a superb ball from the right side, and Rajkovic met it with a downward header that again left Fährmann motionless. The home side were 2-0 up, and as 'Auf geht's Hamburg' rang around the stadium, the belief was back.

Labbadia's half-time talk had clearly worked wonders, and he couldn't contain himself as the second goal went in, running around the technical area arms aloft.

As the game settled, Kolasinac found space on the left of the box for Schalke with 20 minutes left, but his square ball was well cleared. Adler did superbly to punch the resulting corner clear as he was fouled in the process.

News filtered in the Stuttgart now led, meaning Hamburg moved to occupying the play-off spot for the second year running, while pushing Freiburg into the bottom two.

In the 77th minute Hamburg-born forward Chuopo-Moting sidestepped well before being allowed to shoot wide.

A minute later Rudnevs was allowed to shoot, however it was well blocked and Fährmann saved easily.

Hamburg almost gifted Schalke a root bang in to the game as the ball was passed straight to Choupo-Moting with the goal gaping, yet he couldn't beat Adler who was having a superb game between the sticks.

The last few minutes passed without incident, and despite a late goal for Freiburg, it was Hamburg who occupy the play-off place.

One of Darmstadt, Karlsruhe or Kaiserslautern awaits, to be decided on Sunday, but for HSV the clock keeps ticking.