Matchday 26 of the Regionalliga West campaign saw the Borussia Dortmund U23s suffer a 3-1 defeat at Alemannia Aachen. In what turned out to be an eventful encounter, the visitors took an early lead through Sören Dieckmann but were left facing an uphill battle following the dismissal of Denzeil Boadu midway through the first period.

image
Sören Dieckmann scored the opener for the Black and Yellows

Jan Siewert made two changes to the starting XI that was unluckily beaten at home by FC Köln last time out, with Sören Dieckmann and Massimo Ornatelli both earning a recall. BVB made an outstanding start to the match, breaking the deadlock with just 58 seconds of the first half on the clock when Patrick Pflücke made a perfect pass into the path of Sören Dieckmann, who was clean through on goalkeeper Depta and slotted home the opener.

It was an optimal start to a match that BVB boss Jan Siewert had labelled as a real challenge in the build-up. His side, who looked extremely confident on the ball and played with a measure of control, dominated the opening stages and created their next clear-cut goalscoring opportunity in the eighth minute when Herbert Bockhorn was denied by the woodwork. Aachen were offering little in the way of resistance at this point, allowing the visitors several opportunities from set-pieces. One such chance came when Ornatelli went close with a direct free-kick that was parried away for a corner by Depta.

The match then became more subdued and Alemannia carved open their first chance on the 17-minute mark. But there was an unexpected twist three minutes later when referee Dominik Jolk sent off Dortmund midfielder Denzeil Boadu for a foul. "We were aware of Aachen's quality. We performed very well in the opening stages. But the red card completely changed the game. We had to reshuffle things once we were down to ten men," said Siewert. Aachen's second shot, shortly after the dismissal, levelled the scores and the first-half finished 1-1 – thanks in part to Dominik Reimann.

Despite being a man down, BVB tried to stay compact and make their mark on the counter once the second half got underway. But the pressure from Aachen was significant and the hosts took a 2-1 lead on the hour-mark. BVB, however, remained unperturbed and continued to battle on what was a difficult surface. Borussia gave it a real go in front of over 5,000 fans at the Tivoli Stadium in Aachen and their offensive-minded substitutions showed a clear intention to steal a point. "We continued to play at a decent level in the second half, even after going 2-1 down. Had we levelled it at 2-2, then we would definitely be coming home with a point in the bag. But in the end the hosts' experience paid off," explained Siewert as he reflected upon the match. The last passage of play, a corner for BVB, ended with the hosts attacking and extending their lead to 3-1. The U23s are next in action in a week's time, when they take on RW Oberhausen at the Rote Erde.
Timo Lammert