The visitors posed the greater threat throughout, but their potent strike force of Didier Ya Konan and Mohammed Abdellaoue drew a blank.

The stalemate left Mirko Slomka's side with just a two-point advantage over fourth-placed Bayern, who take on second-placed Bayer Leverkusen tomorrow.

Elsewhere today, Nurnberg boosted their hopes of European football next season with a hard-fought 2-0 victory at Kaiserslautern.

Christian Eigler gave Nurnberg the lead in the 34th minute and Robert Mak secured the win with a strike two minutes into stoppage time.

The result ended a three-game winless run for Nurnberg and moved them within two points of a Europa League spot.

Teenager Roberto Firmino's first Bundesliga goal gave Hoffenheim a 1-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt which also kept alive their slim hopes of a Europa League berth.

In the late kick-off, substitute Edu earned Champions League semi-finalists Schalke a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen.

The Royal Blues, who reached the last four of Europe's premier club competition earlier this week at the expense of Inter Milan, went behind in the 59th minute to a Sandro Wagner strike before Edu restored parity four minutes later.

At the bottom, Stuttgart scored three goals in 12 second-half minutes to move four points clear of the drop zone with a 3-1 victory at Cologne.

Christian Trasch broke the deadlock in the 51st minute and Martin Harnik doubled the visitors' advantage two minutes later before Zdravko Kuzmanovic's 63rd-minute penalty made it 3-0.

Milivoje Novakovic pulled a goal back in the 69th minute but it was not enough for Cologne, who saw their eight-match winning home run ended.

Substitute Jan Polak scored in the 89th minute as Wolfsburg grabbed a crucial point in their fight against relegation with a 2-2 home draw against fellow strugglers St Pauli.

Mario Mandzukic gave the Wolves the lead after 39 minutes only for St Pauli to level through Deniz Naki 16 minutes into the second half and go ahead through Matthias Lehmann 16 minutes later, before Polak had the final word.