Eintracht Frankfurt eased their relegation fears with a narrow home win over second-bottom Energie Cottbus.

The east Germans forged ahead thanks to an 11th-minute penalty from Dimitar Rangelov but Frankfurt levelled from the spot four minutes later through Greece forward Nikos Liberopoulos.

Markus Steinhofer grabbed the winner for the home side six minutes after the restart to lift them seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Eintracht were the first to threaten when Umit Korkmaz's left-foot shot from the right-hand side of the box drifted wide in the fifth minute.

However, the visitors were in front six minutes later when they got the benefit of a dubious penalty award and Rangelov slotted home past Oka Nikolov.

The lead was short-lived though as Frankfurt were also awarded a questionable spot-kick and Liberopoulos made no mistake, drilling the ball into the top-left corner.

There was a flurry of activity around the half-hour mark as Alexander Meier drew a smart save from Gerhard Tremmel down to his left after Korkmaz had teed him up, before Daniel Ziebig's ambitious effort for Cottbus flew high and wide.

Friedhelm Funkel's men were desperate to claim a home victory and their winner was a strange one as Steinhofer's 51st-minute set-piece sailed into the box, evading everyone, and somehow found its way past Tremmel.

Six minutes later Tremmel denied Eintracht a third with a close-range stop from Caio and the Brazilian went close again when a 72nd-minute free-kick narrowly missed the target.

His compatriot Chris came even closer to a third two minutes from time when his powerful header hit the post, but the home side had done enough to claim the win which significantly eases their relegation worries.