A spectacular overhead kick from Branko Jelic earned Energie Cottbus their first win in seven weeks, and three precious points in the battle to avoid the drop.
The Serbian striker netted the only goal of the game against karlsruher SC in the 80th minute, four minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Cottbus remain bottom of the table but move up to nine points, just one behind fourth-from-bottom Bochum. KSC's slide to the nether regions continues as they drop into a relegation place, now without a win in seven.
End-to-end action
Sebastian Freis (7.) and Michael Mutzel (14.) passed up early chances for the guests, efforts from both midfielders well saved by Energie keeper Gerhard Tremmel.
It was Cottbus who were playing with the greater urgency however, striker Emil Jula twice putting the ball wide (26., 34.) and seeing one effort saved by Karlsruhe keeper Markus Miller in between (28.).
Keepers to the fore
In the 37th minute, a reflex save by Tremmel from Joshua Kennedy (37.) kept the hosts from going one down.
Both sides continued to push for the win after the interval. Ivica Iliev was foiled by the excellent Miller in the 56th minute, with playmaker Ervin Skela skying the rebound over the bar. At the other end, Cottbus' Marco Kurth deflected the ball against his own post (68.).
Late show does it for Schalke
All-square in Bielefeld
Petric strikes again