Duisburg celebrated their return to the division with a solid campaign that deservedly saw them achieving top nine finish as the Zebras were really exciting to watch and even when things were not going their way for weeks they kept on trusting their system and approach to charge forward in numbers at every opportunity.
Coach Gruev refused to sign too many new players after the promotion and trusting those he knew well proved successful for the Zebras, but the opening three months of the campaign were far from plain sailing – Duisburg achieved only 2 wins in the opening 10 rounds.
In these early matches there were issues in defence, especially at right-back where Klotz wasn’t playing well, but the 34-year-old Hajri was given a chance in the role in round 10 and this changed everything for the Zebras. They managed to climb even in the top six before the winter break after enjoying a run of 7 wins, 5 draws and just 1 defeat between rounds 10 and 22.
Captain Wolze was very solid contributor at both ends of the pitch, he finished the season with 9 goals, the two main strikers Tashchy and Iljutchenko also netted some crucial goals, Schnelhardt was rock in midfield, but the most exciting player and main creative force was winger Stoppelkamp, who was the man to go to when things were hard on the pitch.
Duisburg’s 2:1 home win over Ingolstadt at the end of February put the Zebras right behind third place, but the promotion hopes ended immediately after that as Gruev’s men lost a bit of composure just before Easter and collected a single point from six games. However, back-to-back wins in rounds 31 and 32 confirmed the top half finish and Duisburg can feel pleased with their campaign.
