Dortmund finally win again in Bundesliga

Dec 12, 2017 - 10:57 PM Borussia Dortmund have ended their winless streak in the German Bundesliga by beating Mainz 2-0 in Peter Stoeger's first game in charge.

Greece defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Japan's Shinji Kagawa were on target as Dortmund ended a run of eight league games without victory.

The slide cost Peter Bosz his job on Sunday, and Stoeger was appointed the same day, just eight days after having been fired by bottom side Cologne, who had not won in their opening 14 league games.

"It has been a while," Stoeger told Sky TV after his first league win as a coach since May 20.

"We are very happy and relieved.

"The second half was better and we controlled the game. The team has a lot of quality."

Dortmund rose to fourth place, tied on 25 points with Eintracht Frankfurt but ahead due to a superior goal difference.

Bayern Munich lead the way with 35 points ahead of Wednesday's duel with Cologne.

Second-placed RB Leipzig were held 1-1 at lowly Wolfsburg while Frankfurt prevailed 2-1 at Hamburg.

Mainz started strongly against Dortmund, with Suet Serdar hitting the crossbar in the sixth and missing another chance a few minutes later.

Dortmund had two minor chances from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before they broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.

Omer Toprak headed against the right post off a free-kick and Sokratis converted on the rebound.

Shinji Kagawa wrapped up matters in the 89th minute as Dortmund ended their long drought.

"It was very important for us to win today," Sokratis said.

"We were more compact in defence and now the upcoming games are important to get out of this situation."

At Wolfsburg, Paul Verhaegh opened the scoring with a penalty in the 15th minute.

Leipzig levelled in the 52nd with Marcel Halstenberg's first top-flight goal before Dayot Upamecano was sent off in stoppage time.

"I thought we could turn the game around but in the end we were lucky to take home a point," Halstenberg said.

Frankfurt won at Hamburg to continue their strong form away from home, where they have now earned 18 of their 25 points.

Hamburg led from Kyriakos Papadopoulos's ninth-minuter header.

Timothy Chandler then set up Marius Wolf for a 15th-minute equaliser before Mijat Gaconovic's winner nine minutes later.

Meanwhile, Freiburg defeated sixth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 to move out of the relegation zone.

Nils Petersen's first-half penalty proved the difference.

Source: AAP