Borussia Dortmund's U23s suffered a severe setback as they were unluckily beaten 3-2 by league leaders Viktoria Köln in their top-of-the-table clash on Saturday afternoon. Black and Yellow shot-stopper Hendrik Bonmann was the protagonist of the piece, misjudging a backpass that allowed the visitors to leave with all three points. In the table BVB still have one game in hand but now trail the men from the cathedral city by six points.

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"I'm finding it incredibly difficult to analyse this match. I haven't seen us perform this poorly at any point this season," said a frustrated Black and Yellow boss Daniel Farke. "However, we should've been three or four up at the break as we were outstanding in other areas."

An impressive crowd of 5,529 spectators had seen Lars Dietz head Borussia into the lead at the Rote Erde Stadion with just eight minutes on the clock. But Massih Wassey and Hamadi Al Ghaddioui missed several opportunities to extend that advantage in what remained of the first 45 minutes.

After the break Köln gained an increased foothold in the game and levelled immediately through Felix Backszat, who headed home from an unmarked position several metres out (50). It marked the beginning of a crazy six minutes in which Al Ghaddioui volleyed home a Wassey cross to re-establish the home side's lead, but the Black and Yellow rearguard was at sixes and sevens and Marcel Gottschling poked home another equaliser from several metres in the 56th minute.

The match calmed down somewhat in the aftermath but Viktoria had their noses in front. However, the moment that decided this frenetic top-of-the-table clash came from a situation that coach Daniel Farke labelled as "slapstick". Lars Dietz played a backpass to Hendrik Bonmann, who misjudged his kick. Suddenly Köln were 3-2 ahead.

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Borussia threw everything forward in the final few minutes of the match, but the Black and Yellows could not prevent a first home defeat since Daniel Farke took over the reins in November 2015. Within minutes of the final whistle, however, the coach had laid out his motto for the coming weeks: "We will continue to fight, at any rate."

The U23s will next take to the field on Saturday (1 April, 14:00 CET) when they travel to Fortuna Düsseldorf II.

BVB II: Bonmann - Camoglu, Zimmermann, Mainka, Dietz - Wassey, Hober (Sauerland, 85), Eberwein (Fritz, 85), Arweiler - Al Ghaddioui
Tore: 1-0 Dietz (8), 1-1 Backszat (50), 2-1 Al Ghaddioui (54), 2-2 Gottschling (56), 2-3 Dietz (own goal, 76)
Attendance: 5,529
Florian Groeger