A late goal from Nikolce Noveski has seen Mainz defeat Fortuna Dusseldorf 1-0 at home in the Bundesliga.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors in the fifth minute when Ken Ilso had his shot from the centre of the Mainz box saved by Christian Wetklo.
Two minutes later Nicolai Muller came close for Mainz with a header from an Andreas Ivanschitz cross.
Moments later Johannes van den Bergh flashed his shot from outside the box wide for Dusseldorf.
In the 17th minute Oliver Fink tried an audacious attempt from 35 yards for the visitors, only to see it saved by Wetklo.
Dani Schahin and Ilso had chances for Dusseldorf in the subsequent minutes of the first half before Niko Bungert almost headed Mainz into the lead in the 37th minute.
Adam Szalai shot wide for the hosts just a minute into the second half before Muller and Ivanschitz tested Fabian Giefer.
Dusseldorf were reduced to 10 men in the 78th minute when Fink was shown his second card of the match.
That helped Mainz leap to the lead in the 85th minute, as Nikolce Noveski headed home Ivanschitz's delivery from close range to bag maximum points for the hosts.
Subhankar Mondal
