Simon Rolfes opened the scoring for Leverkusen in the sixth minute and Stefan Kiessling doubled the advantage in the 58th. But Sebastian Freis pulled one back at the hour mark and Joshua Kennedy equalised in the 78th minute.

And only an outstanding effort by Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler allowed Michael Skibbe's team to leave Karlsruhe with a point.

Karlsruhe have not lost in five games and are sixth with 33 points - one point behind Hamburg for the final UEFA Cup berth.

Leverkusen missed a chance to keep pace with leaders Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen but sit on 35 points after their second straight draw.

Leverkusen went ahead in the sixth minute. Karlsruhe defender Mario Eggimann cleared out of the area but the ball went to Rolfes, who chested it down and blasted it into the right corner.

Karlsruhe almost equalised just two minutes later. Adler did a fine job batting away Alexander Iashvili's shot.

The ball went directly to Freis on the right but Vratislav Gresko blocked his attempt.

The hosts continued to dominate play and Adler again proved too good in the 40th minute, tipping over his crossbar a shot from Christian Eichner. And Tamas Hajnal was stopped by Adler from the edge of the box a minute later.

Leverkusen doubled their lead in the 58th through Kiessling, who chested down Bernd Schneider's cross and fired home.

Karlsruhe pulled one back just two minutes later through Freis.

But Adler continued his super performance with superb stops to defy Hajnal and Maik Franz.

Karlsruhe finally equalised in the 78th minute as Kennedy sent a looping header over Adler from a cross into the box by Iashvili.

Karlsruhe pushed forward looking for the victory but could not overcome the outstanding Adler, who somehow saved Franz's injury time shot to secure the draw.