Weigl makes comeback & Sancho debuts in 3-2 win for U23s

After the international break, the U23s had their next Regional League West home game on the fixture list. The visitors to the Rote Erde Stadium were SV Rödinghausen, who occupied third place in the table. The guests had been able to take 11 points from six games beforehand. The Black and Yellows had ten points in the bag prior to kick-off, but had played two fewer games. Support for Jan Siewert's team came in the form of two senior team players: Julian Weigl and Jadon Sancho were to get some game time under their belts with the U23s.

BVB made a perfect start to the fixture. Jadon Sancho stood at the centre of the action, providing lightning fast football on the left flank with just a few minutes of playing time elapsed. After just four minutes he made his way past three opposition players before sending the ball back from the byline to the waiting Janni Serra, who stroked home to give BVB a 1-0 lead. First chance – first goal. Following the goal, the Black and Yellows played even more offensively going forward. Under two minutes after having taken the lead, Janni Serra just failed to put David Sauerland's cross away. It could well have been 2-0 already by this point. For the first fifteen minutes of the game, Jan Siewert's team delivered an attacking masterclass on the field of play. The wingers repeatedly kept making the byline before putting the ball in dangerously in front of the guests' goal. 

SV Rödinghausen rarely made it into the Dortmund men's half, and any attacks were snuffed out by Dominik Reimann in the Dortmund goal if they hadn't already been taken care of earlier. BVB began to play a little more a piacere in the middle of the second half: Julian Weigl had plenty of ball contact to dictate the pace of the game, as is his wont, and slowed down proceedings. In the 30' minute, BVB were rewarded for their attacking prowess. After the visitors lost possession while attempting to build up play, the ball made its way via Julian Weigl and Patrick Pflücke to Herbert Bockhorn, who fired the ball into the goal unstoppably from around 20 metres out to bring up the 2-0 score-line. There was little further action until the halftime whistle since the Black and Yellows had the game firmly under control and conceded few chances at the back.

Jan Siewert made two substitutions during the break as expected. Jadon Sancho and Julian Weigl were free to take an early bath, while Lars Dietz and Beyhan Ametov replaced the two senior team players. BVB began the second half where they had left off in the first. In the 57' minute, the newly introduced Ametov converted a superb cross from Patrick Pflücke to bring up the 3-0. The game was seemingly killed off, the visitors had little to show in the second half, and BVB continued to play intelligently and judiciously without ever looking remotely troubled.

Around 300 spectators were present for BVB'S best performance of the season so far, but the boys were to wobble a bit once more towards the end of the encounter. SV Rödinghausen were able to pull one back with a quarter hour left on the clock thanks to Mario Bülter, 3-1. Jan Siewert reacted by bringing on Chato in place of Serra in order to try and avoid a tense conclusion to the game once more. Chato lined up in defensive midfield. Nonetheless, things were to get fraught again. In the 90' minute, Rödinghausen cut BVB's advantage down to a single goal owing to a bit of luck. This score-line though was to remain intact, and consequently, so did the U23s unbeaten record, meaning the boys have deservedly bagged themselves a top 3 place in the table as a result of their strong start to the season. Trainer Jan Siewert after the match: "I am very proud that we won today. We took the lead early, and that was decisive. Things were tight towards the end of the game, but ultimately it is a deserved 3-2 victory for us."
Timo Lammert