Hannover picked up their first Bundesliga win since last October thanks to a Mohammed Abdellaoue goal against Nuremberg.

The Lower Saxony club, who had drawn their last five games in a row, were able to pick up maximum points thanks to the Norwegian's 18th-minute strike at the Niedersachsenstadion.

The win lifts Mirko Slomka's side up to within two points of sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen and three behind fifth-placed Werder Bremen while Nuremberg remain just four points clear of the relegation zone.

Hannover, who have drawn a league-high nine matches this season, looked keen to attack from the start and they went close to opening the scoring in the seventh minute when Abdellaoue poked the ball just over from a corner.

Two minutes later, Sergio Pinto forced Raphael Schafer to stretch himself fully to push his shot around the post.

Abdellaoue left Schafer no chance with a volley which broke the deadlock soon after as he met Lars Stindl's cross between two Nuremberg defenders.

Nuremberg barely ventured into the Hannover half during the first period as the home side's goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler remained little more than a spectator.

That had to change in the second half and it did with Dieter Hecking's half-time team talk clearly doing the trick.

There was more attacking intent from the Bavarians, but Hannover clearly expected this and pulled more men back, changing their tactics to hit Nuremberg on the counter-attack.

The nearest Nuremberg came to levelling was from a direct free-kick which Daniel Didavi curled over the wall, but also just over the crossbar in the 83rd minute.