Soccer-Strugglers Hamburg stun Hertha 1-0 with Ekdal winner

BERLIN, March 5 (Reuters) - Hamburg SV's Albin Ekdal scored late in the second half as they stunned Hertha Berlin 1-0 on Sunday to rebound from last week's demolition at Bayern Munich and boost their hopes of avoiding relegation.

The Swede swept in his first ever goal for Hamburg from an Aaron Hunt pass in the 77th minute to lift his team, who lost 8-0 to Bayern last week and were then beaten by Borussia Moenchengladbach in the German Cup, up to 23 points in the relegation playoff spot.

Hamburg, the only team to have played in the Bundesliga every season since its creation in 1963, are level on points with 15th-placed VfL Wolfsburg and five ahead of Ingolstadt who are 17th.

Hertha, who have now won just one of their last four matches, suffered yet another setback in their bid for a top-four finish and are stuck in fifth place on 37, four points behind fourth-placed Hoffenheim.

Eintracht Frankfurt suffered their fourth consecutive league loss when they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Freiburg.

Frankfurt are sixth on 35, two ahead of seventh-placed Cologne and Freiburg, who are eighth.

Leaders Bayern Munich are seven points clear at the top following their 3-0 victory at Cologne on Saturday. Second place RB Leipzig drew 2-2 at Augsburg on Friday.

Borussia Dortmund stayed third with a 6-2 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen that lifted them to within six points of Leipzig. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)