FC Schalke 04 moved up to second in the Bundesliga table on Sunday afternoon after defeating struggling Hamburger SV 2-0 at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen.
Franco Di Santo scored the first goal for the Royal Blues from the penalty spot, before Guido Burgstaller made the game safe with the second goal thirteen minutes from time.
The win sees the hosts move up to second in the table, while the visitors remain 15th in the table struggling to move away from the relegation places.
The hosts took control of the game after a scrappy start
After a scrappy start to the game from both teams, the hosts took control of the match and they almost took the lead when a great cross into the box from Yevhen Konolplyanka found Weston McKennie unmarked in the box but the midfielder somehow directed his header over the bar.
Minutes later, Naldo went close with a header from Konoplyanka corner kick but the ball went just over the bar.
Di Santo gave the Royal Blues the lead from the penalty spot
The opening goal of the game did finally come for the home side in the 17th minute when referee Robert Hartmann pointed to the penalty spot after Gideon Jung sent Konoplyanka tumbling in the box.
Di Santo stepped up to take the spot kick and he confidently slotted the ball into the back of the net sending Christian Mathenia the wrong way.
The visitors fought hard for an eqauliser before half-time but fell short
After going in front, though, the hosts took their foot off the pedal and that allowed the visitors to come back into the game without having much joy in front of goal.
Their best chance fell the way off Luca Waldschmidt, who came on as a first half substitute to replace Tatsuya Ito, who was a foul away from being sent off, after a great ball forward found the forward but his goalbound shot was well-saved by Ralf Fährmann from close range.
Therefore, at the break, the hosts had the lead but they needed to step it up again after the break or else the struggling visitors would punish them given the encouragement to do so.
Hunt had a golorious chance to equalise for the visitors just after the hour mark
The encouragement that the visitors could get an equaliser in the game continued to grow at the start of the second half as they continued to pour forward and they really should have got goal just after the hour mark.
A brilliant move from the visitors ended with Jann-Fiebe Arp playing Aaron Hunt through on goal and with only the keeper to beat, the midfielder hit the post when he really should have scored.
That served as a big wake up call for the home side though as down the other end they almost got a second goal when Mckennie received the ball a long way out before hitting a powerful shot towards goal and via a deflection, the ball flew just wide of the box.
Burgstaller added a second before the end to seal three points for the Royal Blues
The Royal Blues though did make the game safe 13 minutes from time when a nice passing move ended with Konoplyanka playing a great pass to Burgstaller, who guided the ball into the back of the net to seal the three points for the hosts.
Therefore, the game ended in another three points for the hosts, while on the other hand, the visitors once again showed why they are in a relegation scrap at the bottom of the table.