Schalke striker Raul believes his team have turned the corner after he scored a hat-trick in their 4-0 win over Werder Bremen.
The Spaniard, who had scored only three times in the Bundesliga before yesterday, doubled his tally for the season to finally take the Royal Blues away from immediate danger at the bottom of the table.
"A footballer always dreams of scoring three goals in a game," he said on his club's website.
"I made that dream come true. It was a perfect day.
"We are now working as a team and that is fantastic. We were particularly dominant in the second half and I really enjoyed it."
Manager Felix Magath also enjoyed what he saw as the Royal Blues made it seven points from their last three league matches.
"In the second half, we were clearly the better team," he said.
"We were able to show the potential we have and that was a good performance.
"I hope we can take this with us into the next tasks against Lyon and Kaiserslautern."
While things are starting to look a little brighter in Gelsenkirchen, the clouds are gathering in Bremen.
Thomas Schaaf's men have conceded 10 goals in their last two matches.
"That was another bitter blow," admitted the league's longest-serving coach. "We were unable to do anything that we had worked on in training in recent days.
"In the end, we just made it too easy for Schalke."
