The U23s’ successful run is over: after going five games without a defeat, the team succumbed to a 2-1 (2-0) loss to SC Verl in Paderborn.

The scenario: The U23s made the short journey full of confidence. The team were unbeaten in five outings and had not conceded a goal in 275 minutes. Another three points would see them break the 40-point barrier – and reduce the gap to SC Verl to five points. The home team went into the game in 10th position, three places above the Black & Yellows. 

Personnel matters: Dortmund coach Jan Zimmermann made two changes to the starting XI that beat Meppen 1-0 last time out, with Can Özkan and Niklas Dams replacing Bjarne Pudel and Thomas Meunier in the line-up. Guille Bueno and Can Özkan occupied the wide berths in the four-man defence, with Niklas Dams and Antonios Papadopoulos forming the central partnership. The last time the defence lined up like that was in the 5-0 victory in Duisburg.

The match & analysis: Justin Njinmah missed the first big chance to open the scoring early on: the striker latched onto a ball through the Verl defence from Abdoulaye Kamara but dragged his strike wide of the far post (7).

A short while later Falko Michel crossed the ball from a centre-left position into the box, where Njinmah fired the ball over the bar from an unmarked position (12).

Rather than celebrating a deserved lead, Dortmund suddenly found themselves behind: a cross from the left side of the defence took an unlucky deflection off Guille Bueno and looped over towards Yari Otto, who headed home unchallenged from the edge of the six-yard box to make it 1-0 to Verl (23). BVB’s 298-minute run without conceding a goal was over.

The U23s got lucky that Maximilian Wolfram did make proper contact with the ball in the Dortmund box after a pass from Otto; otherwise, it might have been 2-0 to the hosts (30). Verl had a better foothold in the game after that. Marcel Lotka turned a long-range shot from Tobias Knost over the bar shortly before the break (40).

The Black & Yellows were no longer managing to make any further inroads in attack. Things got even worse for the U23s directly before half-time when they were caught out by a high ball once again. Michel Stöcker lofted a high cross from the left flank into the penalty area, Maximilian Wolfram stole in behind Bueno at the back post and headed the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0 to Verl (45).

A matter of seconds after the interval, Falko Michel missed the chance to pull a quick goal back for Dortmund. After being teed by up Michael Eberwein, he rolled his shot wide of the far post (46).

Bueno fared better shortly afterwards: Dortmund’s regular left-back took advantage of a miskick from a Verl player on the halfway line to counter, sprinting towards goal with a defender in pursuit and finishing with a lovely lob over the goalkeeper from the edge of the penalty area to make it 2-1 (51).

Verl had another two good chances after that. First, Dortmund were spared by the woodwork when a Wolfram header from a corner struck the post; then, a short while later, a shot from 16 metres out from Joel Grodowski flew narrowly over the frame of the goal (56).

The Black & Yellows showed determination but struggled for a long time to create the threat in front of goal to turn the game around. The best opportunity fell to Michel, whose free-kick from a tight angle over on the left flank was kept out by Verl custodian Tim Wiesner (84). It did, however, mark the start of a Black & Yellow offensive in the final minutes. Njinmah almost managed to restore parity in stoppage time, but his curling effort from the edge of the penalty area flew wide of the right upright (90+2).

Jan Zimmermann coach: “We have not faced any opponent that has created so many chances against us in the last few weeks. That said, we need to take the lead. When you fall behind against Verl, you have to take more risks. We must not concede the second goal before the break. We deserved a point from the second half. My team produced a really good performance in the second half.”

Outlook: The U23s will host league leaders SV Elversberg at Stadion Rote Erde on Saturday (14:00 CET).

U23s: Lotka – Özkan, Papadopoulos, Dams, Bueno (Pasalic, 89) – Kamara (Elongo-Yombo, 71), Pfanne – Njinmah, Eberwein, Michel – Tattermusch (Otuali, 78)

Goals: 1-0 Otto (23), 2-0 Wolfram (45), 2-1 Bueno (51)

Daniel Mertens