Spain continued their seemingly unstoppable march towards the World Cup finals by edging out Turkey in the battle between the top two teams in Group Five.

Gerard Pique scored the only goal of a closely-fought encounter at the Bernabeu as Spain made it five wins out of five in qualifying, leaving them six points clear of second-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The victory also extended the European champions' unbeaten run to 30 matches - of which 28 have ended in victory.

However, Vicente del Bosque's side were slow out of the blocks at the start of the game and can consider themselves fortunate not to have fallen behind early on.

In the sixth minute Turkey captain Nihat Kahveci got in behind the home defence but fired a low shot just wide, before 60 seconds later Senturk brought a diving save out of Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

That was an encouraging start for the visiting side, who had picked up eight points from their first four qualifiers, and Fatih Terim's troops would go on to edge an opening period in which clear chances were at a premium.

Spain had to wait until the 42nd minute for their first real effort of note, with Fernando Torres testing Demirel Volkan from the edge of the area.

Just seconds prior to that Turkey had created another half-chance when a well-timed run from Arda Turan saw him break through, but his control was too heavy and Casillas was able to rush out and collect.

Spain were finding it hard to build any momentum against a determined and well-organised Turkey side and it was hard to see where a goal was going to come from.

However that changed on the hour mark when the Euro 2008 winners finally managed to break the deadlock through the unlikely figure of centre-back Pique.

Xavi's free-kick into the area should really have been tucked away by the unmarked Sergio Ramos on the edge of the six-yard box, but the Real Madrid defender seemed surprised to receive possession and could only divert the ball back across the face of goal.

Fortunately for the home side though Pique was free at the far post to side-foot the ball past Volkan, who got his hands to the shot but could not deny the Barcelona youngster his first international goal.

Soon after that breakthrough Del Bosque made his first change, sending on the debutant Juan Mata for his Valencia team-mate David Villa.

The in-form Villa had become the first Spaniard to net in six successive internationals in last month's win over England, but he was unable to extend that record after being well-marshalled by the Turkish backline.

New boy Mata looked enterprising down the left and that, combined with Pique's goal, allowed Spain to gradually enjoy more freedom going forward as Turkey left more space at the back.

David Silva went close to doubling the hosts' lead before Volkan did well to somehow turn away Xabi Alonso's half-volley.

Spain were unable to find a second goal but their defence had few problems keeping their opponents in check at the other end of the pitch, and Del Bosque's men will now go to Istanbul for Wednesday's return meeting against the Turks knowing a good result would leave them on the brink of a place in next year's finals.