1,088 fans turned out at the Rote Erde Stadion on Saturday afternoon to watch a poor performance from the BVB U23s against the Regionalliga West leaders. The Black & Yellows ultimately came away 4-0 (2-0) down on the scoresheet. Simon Engelmann and Lukas Kunze both bagged braces for the visitors from eastern Westphalia.

The pre-match scenario: It was all set to be the headline game of Matchday 9: BVB, unbeaten in three matches, at home against league leaders SV Rödinghausen. The Black & Yellows had hit a good run of form in the last few weeks, while the visitors from eastern Westphalia have been among the leading pack since the start of the season. Coach Enrico Maaßen's side had only suffered one defeat so far in the campaign - two weeks ago against Alemannia Aachen.

Personnel: BVB coach Mike Tullberg made two changes to the side that notched up an impressive away win against 1. FC Cologne last week. Jan-Pascal Reckert replaced the injured Eric Oelschlägel in goal, while Taylan Duman moved into central midfield to take the place of Magnus Kaastrup.

The first half: It took 13 minutes for the first promising attack from a Black & Yellow perspective: a Finnsson free-kick was deflected behind for a corner, from which Tobi Raschl was able to direct an effort goalwards which was blocked by a Rödinghausen defender. Down the other end, the visiting side managed to capitalise on their first real goal-scoring opportunity of the match: in the 16th minute, a surging run from Simon Engelmann saw him drive forward to the edge of the box and unleash a shot on goal which left BVB goalkeeper Jan-Pascal Reckert with no chance. It was a tough blow for Borussia, who had arguably been the better side until that point.

The Black & Yellows recovered well to going behind and continued to dictate play. The away side, for their part, were happy to sit back and hit Dortmund on the break. This was an approach which would soon bear further fruits: in the 41st minute, BVB found themselves two goals down on the scoresheet. After a throw-in was taken quickly, the ball fell to Simon Engelmann. He certainly had his shooting boots on, firing another unstoppable effort past Reckert into the Dortmund net from 20 metres out. The sides went in at the break with the scoreboard reading 2-0 in favour of Rödinghausen.

The second half:  Barely five minutes had been played in the second half when Rödinghausen got another goal to give them a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead. A smart finish from Lukas Kunze wrong-footed Jan-Pascal Reckert, who was unable to adjust quickly enough to make the save. BVB coach Mike Tullberg decided to make two changes on the hour mark: on came Magnus Kaastrup and Dominik Wanner to replace Taylan Duman and Maximilian Hipp. The change in personnel was however unable to make much of an impact on the match, which gradually started to peter out. SV Rödinghausen were incredibly strong defensively and didn't give BVB the slightest sniff at goal. 

A fourth goal in the 76th minute then put the result beyond any doubt. After a short corner, Lukas Kunze found space to guide the ball into the bottom-left corner from 20 metres out.

What's next: The Borussia Dortmund U23s will pick things up on Monday 30 September when they host Rot-Weiß Oberhauen at the Rote Erde Stadion (kick-off 20:15 CET). 

BVB U23: Reckert – Hippe (64. Wanner), Rente, Balerdi, Finnsson – Raschl (74. Rizzo), Hober, Duman (64. Kaastrup) – Boyamba, Tigges, Führich (82. Tunga)

Goals: 0-1 Engelmann (16.), 0-2 Engelmann (41.), 0-3 Kunze (50.), 0-4 Kunze (76.)