Mohammed Abdellaoue's first-half goal was enough for Hannover, who held off Kaiserslautern on the road to continue their superb start to the season.

Abdellaoue scored the winner in the 33rd minute for Mirko Slomka's team, who moved on to 13 points to lie third - five points behind leaders Mainz. Kaiserlautern have collected just one point in their last four matches and sit 11th in the table with seven points.

Kaiserslautern had the first chance of the game in the 11th minute but Martin Amedick's header from a corner went wide. And the hosts were close again a minute later but Hannover keeper Florian Fromlowitz blocked Srdjan Lakic's long-range shot as well as Ivo Ilicevic's follow-up.

The Hannover attack showed its appreciation and grabbed the lead at the 33-minute mark. Manuel Schmiedebach's cross from the left side found Abdellaoue, who headed inside the right post to make it 1-0 with his fourth goal of the season. Lakic nearly equalised four minutes before the break but his attempt from the left side struck the right post.

Hannover did very little offensively with the hosts pushing forward looking for the equaliser. Ilicevic's blast sailed just over the crossbar on the hour mark, Rodnei shot over the goal from six yards out with 14 minutes to play and Amedick's header from a free-kick four minutes later went wide of the right-hand post.