Vladimir Darida's second-half penalty was enough to send Freiburg out of the Bundesliga bottom two in a 1-0 victory against FC Koln.

The 24-year-old came close to opening the scoring early on when he was picked out on the edge of the box, but his effort was a few inches wide of the target.

Christian Streich's relegation-threatened side were gifted the chance to take the lead five minutes into the second half when Mergim Mavraj handled the ball inside the area, with Darida coolly dispatching the penalty into the bottom corner of the net.

It almost got even better for Freiburg shortly after, as Sebastian Freis and Darida once more managed to get away a couple of efforts on goal, which failed to get the better of Timo Horn.

In the end it mattered little, though, with Koln unable to find an equaliser in the remaining time to ensure that the visitors are off the mark with their first league win.