SV Darmstadt 98 claimed Hesse Derby bragging rights by seeing off rivals Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 at the Commerzbank-Arena.
The only goal of the game arrived 30 minutes in when Aytac Sulu headed home his fourth of the season to seal the points.
Chances up until that point proved to be few and far between, as Sandro Wagner narrowly missed the target with his opening before Jan Rosenthal saw his effort kept out.
Sulu's opener then arrived to give Darmstadt, without a win in any of their last five prior to this evening, a lead that their efforts deserved.
Christian Mathenia had to be alert to deny Stefan Aigner in the second period, while a Marco Russ attempt proved to be tougher to deal with and he could only parry the ball.
The Lilies had a couple of openings of their own to bag a second through Sulu and Wagner, but in the end the missed chances mattered little as the visitors hung on for the win.
Frankfurt remain in trouble at the bottom end of the Bundesliga table as a result of the defeat, while Darmstadt now find themselves four points above their opponents.
Daniel Lewis
