Fans of Bundesliga club Werder Bremen are used to tense finishes to the season in pursuit of titles, European places and cup finals but this year they are becoming resigned to a battle for survival.
This is not how it was imagined back in summer last year when Robin Dutt was named new coach after Werder legend Thomas Schaaf left by mutual consent, the modern euphemism for being shown the door.
Dutt had struggled in charge of Bayer Leverkusen but his performance with relative minnows Freiburg gave the Bremen fans reason to hope the club would improve on its 14th place finish in 2013.
Instead Werder find themselves in the lower half of the table once more, just three points above the relegation play-off place. On Saturday they were dismantled 5-1 at home by Borussia Dortmund and the reality of the situation is beginning to kick in.
"If you lose 5-1, you don't have many arguments. It may sound dumb but we played a better match than in the last couple weeks," Aaron Hunt told the club homepage.
"Still, it's not enough to play well for only 20 minutes. We need to be alert a full 90 minutes. We conceded a lot of goals, that doesn't bode well for us. Once again, we are frustrated and disappointed." Under Schaaf Bremen had a reputation for cavalier football, conceding many goals but scoring enough to keep their heads above water.
This season they have conceded 45 - the second worst total in the league - but have scored just 24 themselves. With only bottom club Braunschweig and Freiburg scoring less, it is undeniable they have problems at both ends of the park.
"Now we have to make sure that we get past this defeat," sport director Thomas Eichin said.
"We will be bombarded with quite a bit in the coming weeks. We have to fight hard that it gets better. We have to be strong enough and cannot pay attention to what goes on around us."
On Saturday Bremen have one of their favourite games of the season when they host fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach. They are unbeaten at home against the Foals in 27 years, a run of 23 games.
After that comes a decisive run when they face five of the current bottom seven clubs in consecutive matches.
An improvement in form will bring salvation with room to spare but further losses will increase the prospect of a first relegation since 1980.
Spring is once more a time for tension at the Weser Stadium but this year the fans, players and management would happily trade it for midtable anonymity.
