Seven wins. Five draws. No defeats. Peter Stöger and his coaching staff have stabilised and brought success back to a Borussia Dortmund side that had only won one of its last 13 games – in Magdeburg – prior to their arrival. The Black & Yellows will now head into the final stretch of the season with a small lead over fifth place.

It is undoubtedly more than a tender plant sprouting in the spring sunshine. But the icy wind fits into the picture too. The recent victories over Hannover and Frankfurt were hard-fought affairs in which BVB wobbled before ultimately winning. Outstanding spells – like the first half of the 1-1 draw with Leipzig – cannot yet be rounded off with a second or even a third goal. The observers all agree that a bigger lead than 1-0 is likely to mean the Black & Yellows playing with greater ease again. But with such narrow margins, the wins continue to be hard-fought.

"We battled and the defence did an excellent job. It is enormously important that we go into the challenges and win them too," said André Schürrle, who felt that there were a lot of positives to be taken from the 1-0 victory over Hannover 96. The win hands Borussia Dortmund a (narrow) four-point lead over fifth place ahead of the clashes with Champions League rivals Schalke 04 and Bayern Leverkusen, which come shortly after their trip to FC Bayern on 31 March.

The points average under Stöger has now grown to 2.17. BVB are second in the Rückrundentabelle (the league table for the second half of the season) and only Bayern (31) have amassed more points than BVB (26) since Stöger's arrival. "It was a good reaction after being eliminated from Europe," said the Austrian as he reflected upon the 1-0 win over Hannover. "The team showed from the beginning that they wanted to win the match. There were lots of positive aspects: lots of attacking momentum, runs in behind, attempts to get shots away. The team rose to the situation. Lots of the things we wanted to see were present. We're very satisfied."

His charges had 27 shots on goal – a season record and a sign of great enthusiasm brought about by some very strong counter-pressing in the first period, combined with flowing link-up play. The only thing missing was consolidating their lead after netting the opener courtesy of Michy Batshuayi's sixth goal in seven league games. "A second goal would've made it easier for us," said Stöger, who nonetheless felt it had been a "good performance" on the whole.

They are small steps in a bumpy season. But even small steps get you to where you want to be.
Boris Rupert