Arminia Bielefeld moved out of the Bundesliga relegation zone this evening but only on goal difference after conceding a late equaliser at mid-table Bayer Leverkusen.

Stefan Kiessling put the hosts ahead after 21 minutes at the BayArena, but Manuel Friedrich put through his own net two minutes later to get Arminia back on level terms and then Robert Tesche bagged what looked set to be the winner six minutes before the break.

However, Patrick Helmes popped up with the leveller 11 minutes from time to keep Arminia firmly in the relegation mire with three games remaining.

Having slipped down the league standings to fall out of contention for a top-five finish, Bruno Labbadia's players could have been forgiven for letting their focus turn to their DFB-Pokal final date with Werder Bremen on May 30.

But it was they who opened the scoring, Kiessling heading Renato Augusto's cross from the right into the bottom-right corner.

Arminia responded well to that setback and immediately restored parity when Friedrich inadvertently deflected Radim Kucera's header from Vlad Munteanu's free-kick past his own goalkeeper.

Munteanu was again the provider as Michael Frontzeck's side forged ahead, his inswinging free-kick from the left wing met by the head of Tesche. He made no mistake in nodding past Rene Adler, although Leverkusen felt aggrieved as their appeals for offside fell on deaf ears.

Arminia top scorer Artur Wichniarek, back in contention following a back injury, was called upon by Frontzeck with 14 minutes remaining as the visitors looked for the third which would have put the game beyond doubt.

But the only remaining goal in the game came at the other end when the Arminia defence failed to clear and Helmes struck a left-footed shot past Dennis Eilhoff and into the bottom-right corner.