Schalke 04 maintained their solid run of recent form with a 2-0 victory at bottom-of-the-table Energie Cottbus.
Late goals from Heiko Westermann (80.) and Jefferson Farfan (90.) gave Fred Rutten's three hard-earned points, taking them up to fourth place on 20.
Schalke, who had Orlando Engelaar sent off in the 52nd minute for unsporting conduct, are now unbeaten in seven competitive fixtures.
Unlucky Cottbus
For Cottbus this was the third consecutive home defeat and they remain rooted at the bottom on just six points.
The guests found it hard to make inroads into the home defence in the first half. Albert Streit had a goal correctly ruled out for offside (31.) and that apart, a shot over the bar from seven metres out by Halil Altintop (34.) was as close as Schalke got before the interval.
Cottbus, with Chinese international Jiayi Shao back in the starting line-up for the first time in more than a year, were meanwhile looking solid at the back and could well have gone in front themselves through Dennis Sörensen (26.).
Engelaar sees red
Seven minutes into the second half the visitors were down a man when Engelaar was red-carded for making an obscene gesture to the linesman.
Sub Emil Jula then blew a chance to put Energie in front (69.) before Westermann finally got Schalke off the blocks with a header.
Farfan, who had come off the bench himself in the 61st minute, scored at the second attempt from the spot after home keeper Gerhard Tremmel had saved his initial effort. And that, in the 90th minute, was that.
The late, late show
Stuttgart leave it late
Hard-fought win for Schalke