Dortmund returned to winning ways on Tuesday, defeating Mainz 2-0 on the road with Austrian coach Stoger at the helm for just two days after the team parted ways with Bosz.

"We are all very happy with the win," Stoger told the postgame news conference. "Having taken something back home is the only thing that matters."

However, it took the visitors until the 55th minute to score the opener as Sokratis Papastathopoulos volleyed home a loose ball in the box following a free kick from the left flank.

Dortmund were more comfortable after going ahead, but due to their wastefulness they had to wait until the 89th minute to seal the win. Japan international Shinji Kagawa finished off a counter-attack after combining with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

"We didn't start too well into the game, the lack of confidence was visible," Stoger said. "During the break, we mentioned a few things that we wanted to improve. The second half was clearly better, we managed to exude dominance, managed to better our positional play and organisation.

"Though I have to say that a lot of today's positives belong to Peter Bosz. He has left something really good behind. I haven't heard anybody here utter a single bad word about him."

Right-back Jeremy Toljan and centre-back Omer Toprak were instant beneficiaries of a new manager, starting the game after having missed out on most of the action in recent weeks.

It also looks as though midfielder Julian Weigl could become another of the big winners of the managerial switch. The 23-year-old had struggled under Bosz, who wanted Weigl to play in a more advanced position.

On Tuesday, Weigl was allowed to conduct the play from a deeper position in front of the backline, boasting the team's highest passing accuracy with 96.8 percent.

Weigl revealed to Sky after the game that he enjoyed his time on the field: "I had a little more freedom today than in the last few weeks, but I don't want to look back. Though I had a lot of fun today.

"The most important thing is that we won -- and without conceding. It was the right step, but only the first, in the right direction."

When asked about Weigl's different role on the pitch, Stoger said: "I try to adjust my approach, my philosophy to where I believe the players feel most comfortable and can make the most out of their qualities.

"As a coach, I've never tried to think up my own footballing vision and tried to enforce it because you depend on what your players can implement. I believe that when Julian Weigl plays that a [deeper position] suits him well."

Meanwhile, team captain Marcel Schmelzer found praise for his team's shift after bemoaning the lack of attitude following Saturday's 2-1 loss against Werder Bremen.

Schmelzer told reporters: "It was important to fight for the three points. The fight of everyone paired with our individual quality helped us win today. My recent criticism was absolutely justified. Every player saw it that way. I'm convinced that we would have also won last Saturday [against Bremen], had we showed the same fight as we did in Mainz today.

"We know that we have the quality but that itself isn't enough. Claiming another clean sheet will be a boost to the morale. We have to take the momentum with us now and not let off again."

Borussia Dortmund will host Hoffenheim on Saturday for their last Bundesliga match of the year before meeting Bayern Munich on Dec. 20 in the German Cup.