Borussia Dortmund have climbed off the foot of the Bundesliga table courtesy of a 1-0 victory over high-flying Borussia Monchengladbach this evening.
The hosts, who came into this game on the back of five-straight defeats in the league, had the first effort of the game when Marco Reus's audacious effort from a tight angle in the second minute flew just wide.
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Dortmund continued to apply the pressure on their beleaguered opponents, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also chipping in with efforts that were being repelled with difficulty by the visitors.
On the half-hour mark, Reus and Shinji Kagawa forced blocks from their respective efforts, before Lukasz Piszczek fired high and wide moments later.
Despite finding themselves under the cosh and not registering a single effort in the first half, Monchengladbach were able to ride out the storm and go into the break level.
BVB finally made the breakthrough shortly before the hour mark when Christoph Kramer sensationally lobbed his own keeper from 30 yards as the pressure finally began to tell.
Moments later a resurgent Dortmund side pushed forward once more, with Reus's effort crashing back off the crossbar.
The narrow miss mattered little in the end, though, as Dortmund held out to register their first league win since mid-September to climb up the table.
Gladbach taste defeat for the first time this season in the Bundesliga, meanwhile, to see the gap on leaders Bayern Munich open up at the top of the table.
Daniel Lewis
