A first-half goal from Mladen Petric was enough to give Hamburg the spoils against Borussia Monchengladbach and catapult them to the top of the Bundesliga standings.
The Croatia international found the target after 11 minutes to pile more misery on a Gladbach side who have lost five of their opening six league matches since their return to the top flight.
Hamburg, though, sit at the top the table with a one-point advantage over Bayer Leverkusen, who also won on Saturday.
Things did not start well for Jos Luhukay's Gladbach side when Karim Matmour was forced off the field after just 10 minutes with a facial injury following a collision with Guy Demel.
And the visitors suffered a further blow a minute later when Petric rose unmarked to meet a free-kick from Thiago Neves and head beyond the reach of Christofer Heimeroth for the opening goal.
It was the only highlight of an otherwise dull first half though, as neither team could produce a further shot on target at the AOL Arena.
The second half provided more in the way of entertainment and Gladbach could have got themselves back on level terms after 56 minutes but Soumaila Coulibaly brushed the right post with his 20-yard drive.
And Gladbach hit the woodwork again 15 minutes later this time through Marko Marin, who smashed the crossbar with a right-footed effort which was then cleared by Hamburg keeper Frank Rost.
Hamburg responded with a chance of their own three minutes later and keeper Heimeroth made a timely intervention to deny Jonathan Pitriopa.
Gladbach then almost nicked a point as the clock ticked down but Marin's header fell inches wide.
