The Borussia Dortmund U23s will be in action away to SV Sandhausen on Saturday afternoon (14:00 CET) and will be hoping to get back to winning ways after four losses in a row. Sandhausen, who were relegated from the second division last term, still have their sights set on the promotion places.

The BVB reserves sit in ninth place in the 3. Liga table with 45 points on the board after 31 rounds of matches. The team narrowly missed out on the opportunity to further improve their points haul last weekend. There was a sense of widespread disillusionment after Waldhof Mannheim scored a last-second goal to secure a 2-1 victory at Stadion Rote Erde. BVB coach Jan Zimmermann’s team had performed well for long spells of the game. But after Ole Pohlmann’s goal to level the scores at 1-1, the visitors struck again in stoppage time and gave themselves some breathing space in the relegation battle. “We’ve conceded too many unnecessary goals from set-pieces. We absolutely have to defend them more consistently, but we also have to assert ourselves better in attack," Zimmermann said.

The U23s will be looking to improve further in their away game at SV Sandhausen. SVS are fifth in the table and have picked up 49 points this season. The gap to the relegation play-off place stands at six points. Coach Jens Keller’s team played out a 4-4 draw with SC Verl in their last outing and beat Spielvereinigung Unterhaching 1-0 the week beforehand. “Sandhausen urgently need wins in order to work their back towards the very top in the season run-in. Experience shows that they do not need many chances in order to score goals, but also that they are vulnerable when it comes to conceding goals,” was the analysis from the Dortmund coach, whose team lost the reverse fixture at Stadion Rote Erde 2-1. Julian Hettwer scored the goal for the Black & Yellows.

Away tickets for the game on Saturday are available here. In addition, a box office will be open on the day of the match.