Schalke left it late to beat rock-bottom Energie Cottbus on Saturday afternoon despite playing almost the entire second half with 10 men.
Schalke had Orlando Engelaar sent off in the 52nd minute but clinched all three points courtesy of goals in the 80th and 90th minutes from Heiko Westermann and Jefferson Farfan to go to fourth in the Bundesliga standings.
Cottbus continue to prop up the table with six points from 11 games.
Schalke had the first sight of goal in the seventh minute when Ivan Rakitic had a free-kick blocked and that set the tone for the rest of the game as Cottbus, shorn of in-form striker Dimitar Rangelov, showed little interest in going forward.
Marcelo Jose Bordon tried his luck with a long-range shot in the 22nd minute but was off target, before the hosts registered their first shot on goal when Dennis Sorensen forced a save from Manuel Neuer.
Schalke's Albert Streit had a goal ruled out for offside just after the half-hour mark, but the visitors suffered a blow early in the second half when Engelaar was dismissed for making offensive hand gestures at a linesman after disagreeing with his decision.
Farfan came close with a free-kick in the 76th minute which sailed narrowly over, but four minutes later he crossed into the box from a set-piece for Westermann to head home.
In the dying minutes Kevin Kuranyi was hauled down in the area by left-back Daniel Ziebig and Farfan scored the rebound after Gerhard Tremmel saved his first effort from the spot.
