In spite of their personnel problems, the Borussia U17s won their B-Junior Bundesliga West top match against a strong SC Paderborn side 2-1. Len Wörsdörfer (8) and Tyler Meiser (22) capped off a focused start with goals to race into a 2-0 lead. Paderborn reduced the deficit in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Coach Marco Lehmann had to shake up his starting line-up once again. The long-term injury absentees (Feddersen, Ngambia, Markötter, Mahjoubi, Hölscher and Held) were joined in the treatment room by Joshua Burstedde and Oliwer Blaszczyk. The attacker sustained a fibre tear and a tendon tear in his thigh in the U19s’ friendly against Zwolle (3-0), while Blaszczyk suffered a fatigue fracture in training. Len Wörsdörfer started at centre-forward, with Justin Hoy in holding midfield and Tim Degener deployed in the left full-back position.

The team made a focused, courageous and aggressive start, forcing Paderborn onto the back foot and reaping the rewards. Len Wörsdörfer fired home a free-kick to make it 1-0, with Tyler Meiser adding the second a short while later after Valon Cena had struck the bar. Valon Cena hammered the ball against the bar again in the 43rd minute after great build-up work from Justin Hoy. “We had a lot of control in the first 40 minutes, were unpleasant in the challenges and defended the long balls perfectly against a really good opponent,” praised Marco Lehmann.

Paderborn rallied after the opening half-hour and proved it is not by coincidence that they are stubbornly defending their place in the Bundesliga’s leading pack. The East Westphalians impressed with their team structure and footballing class. Jan Peters had a great chance to pull a goal back shortly before the break but fired wide of the Dortmund goal from an unmarked position.

Lead defended with passion

The second period was totally dominated by the visitors, who were in the ascendancy, forced Leon Herdes into some stunning saves and spurned further opportunities. The goal back through Jan Peters in the 94th minute came too late to force the turnaround. Borussia, who defended their lead with great passion, remained extremely dangerous with their switch play, in particular via the speedy Ousmane Diallo. Wörnsdörfer and Diallo had a chance to open the scoring after just over an hour, but Paderborn were also able to rely on an excellent goalkeeper, Konstantin Sommer, in what was an intense and exciting game.

“We were no longer able to defend on the front foot. The gaps were too big for us to exert any real pressure up top. But in terms of the fight, it was once again an A+. We’re just happy about the win and the next successful result,” summarised Marco Lehmann, who has decided to give his boys two days off.

BVB thus remain within touching distance of the top two spots, which would qualify them for the German Championship. The team are away to RW Oberhausen next Sunday (3/12).

U17s: Herdes – Cena, Bekara, Meiser, Degener (Driedger, 73) – Hoy, Kaba – Fleck (Ucar, 78), Cherny – Wörsdörfer (Svitek, 90), Diallo

The U19 derby postponed to 14 February

Meanwhile, the U19s’ postponed matches in the A-Junior Bundesliga have been rescheduled. Borussia’s home game against SC Verl will take place on Sunday 17 December (11:00 CET). SC Paderborn will visit the BVB Youth Performance Centre on Sunday 28 January, directly after the winter break. The derby away to Schalke will take place on Wednesday 14 February. The kick-off time is yet to be determined. (wiwi)