Sebastian Polter gave Wolfsburg a winning start to 2012 with a late goal earning Felix Magath's new-look side a 1-0 win against Cologne.
Five of Magath's winter signings played a part in the proceedings, but it was a home-grown talent who made the difference with the winning goal 12 minutes from the end.
The hosts enjoyed the better of the game, although Cologne wasted numerous good chances, indicating that perhaps the Wolves' fortunes may well have turned in the new year.
Magath awarded debuts to four of his 10 new signings this winter with Petr Jiracek, Vieirinha, Felipe Lopes and Ricardo Rodriguez all in his starting XI.
Yohandry Orozco and Giovanni Sio were on the bench as a new-look Wolfsburg side attempted to start 2012 with a win.
And they started brightly too with Christian Trasch, one of the stalwarts of this side, ending a shot just wide in the fourth minute.
Ja Cheol Koo missed several chances as the Wolves penned Cologne back in their own half, albeit without finding a goal to go with their dominance.
They also had two good penalty appeals turned down, the first in the eighth minute when Ashkan Dejagah appeared to be held inside the area before Miso Brecko's tackle from behind on Marcel Schafer went unpunished.
Cologne's first chance fell to Milivoje Novakovic in the 21st minute, but Diego Benaglio made a good save to deny him.
Benaglio was beaten by a Lukas Podolski lob, but Alexander Madlung covered to clear the ball in front of the line.
Wolfsburg regained control of the game in the second half, albeit with the same lack of incision as in the first half.
And they were almost punished by Novakovic, who shot over the crossbar with only Benaglio to beat in the 76th minute.
Wolfsburg substitute Polter then found the back of the net to score his second goal in only three Bundesliga appearances, and earn the Wolves all three points.
He raced in to meet Trasch's cross and head it past Michael Rensing from close range.
Mikael Ishak was given his debut late on by Cologne coach Stale Solbakken and he had a good chance to mark his first appearance with a goal, but he shot wide of Benaglio with only the Wolfsburg goalkeeper to beat less than 60 seconds after coming on.
