Alemannia Aachen overcome Mainz in relegation matchup

Alemannia Aachen beat Mainz 2-1 on Sunday to draw level with its rival in the fight against relegation from the Bundesliga.

The end of Mainz's six-match unbeaten streak means the struggle to avoid demotion is the closest in Bundesliga history. The bottom 10 clubs are separated by just seven points and seven teams are within two points ahead of 16th-place Eintracht Frankfurt, which occupies the last demotion place.

Mainz had the league's best record since the winter break, having been in last place, and led 1-0 on Mohammed Zidan's 14th-minute goal after dominating the first half.

Aachen brought on Laurentiu Reghecampf for the half and the substitution paid off immediately. His free kicks led to goals by Jan Schlaudraff in the 47th and by Vedad Ibisevic two minutes later.

The result left Mainz 13th and Aachen 14th, just one point above demotion.

"I know we could have gotten out of this relegation mess today," Mainz coach Juergen Klopp said. "But when we were deep in last place, if anybody had said we would be where we are now, I would have said: `How do you think that is possible.'"

Sunday's second match was another relegation battle.

Energie Cottbus moved up to 11th with a 3-2 win against Borussia Dortmund, which fell to 10th. Both are two points above demotion.

Dortmund got two goals from Alexander Frei and the Swiss forward almost equalized on an 85th header which was ruled offside. It Dortmund's fifth loss in seven matches under new coach Juergen Roeber.

"We've really taken a fall -- we are now officially part of the relegation battle," Dortmund defender Sebastian Kehl said.

In other weekend matches, it was: Schalke 0, Hamburg 2; Hertha Berlin 2, Bayern Munich 3; Arminia Bielefeld 3, Nuremberg 2; Bayer Leverkusen 3, Stuttgart 1; Wolfsburg 1, Borussia Moenchengladbach 0; Eintracht Frankfurt 2, Hannover 96 0; and Bremen 3, Bochum 0.