The Borussia Dortmund U23s earned a point in a 1-1 (1-1) draw at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on the 21st and final Regionalliga matchday of 2018. BVB took the lead through Joseph Boyamba before Gödde hit back from the penalty spot for the hosts. The Black & Yellows now occupy fourth place, one behind opponents Oberhausen.

Timo Lammert reporting from Oberhausen

The scenario:
Borussia Dortmund went into this game with momentum after beating SG Wattenscheid last time out. RWO, who were one point ahead of the Black & Yellows in the table, drew 2-2 in Aachen last weekend.

The personnel:
BVB coach Jan Siewert was without a number of players in the final game of the year, with the quintet of Denzeil Boadu, Sören Dieckmann, Massimo Ornatelli, Leon Burggraf and Kempes Tekiela not included in the squad. Siewert, who lined his charges up in their now-established 5-3-2 system, relied on pace in attack and stability in defence.

The first half:
Borussia Dortmund had the match largely under control. The team was compact at the back and created a number of good attacking opportunities in the opening stages thanks their quick switch-play and technically sophisticated football. The best goalscoring chance fell to left-back Dzenis Burnic from a set-piece in the 16th minute of the match, though his free-kick from approximately 20 metres out flew over the opposition goal. But BVB finally got the lead they deserved 10 minutes later when Julian Schwermann won back possession of the ball in the middle of the park and played it through to Joseph Boyamba, who slotted home his eighth goal of the season with a left-footed shot.

The Black & Yellows continued to create problems via a number of promising counter-attacks, though they ultimately amounted to nothing. That, however, was the only thing BVB could reproach themselves for. The Dortmund defence was rarely, if ever, called into action − aside from one moment of carelessness before the half-time whistle. Unfortunately it was costly. Ben Balla was fouled in the penalty area on the stroke of half-time and striker Philipp Gödde converted the ensuing spot-kick to make it 1-1 as the teams went in at the break.

The second half:
The Black & Yellows took a slightly more relaxed approach to the second period, allowing their visitors from Oberhausen to have more possession and increasingly relying on counter-attacks themselves. RWO grew stronger as the match progressed and would have scored in the 67th minute had it not been for Amos Pieper thwarting Odenthal at the last second. Alexander Isak then spurned a good chance following a counter at the other end. BVB's defence continued to hold firm, with goalkeeper Eric Oelschlägel hardly called into action in the opening 75 minutes.

The most contentious moment of the second half came in the 80th minute of the match when Marco Hober was brought down in the box, but the referee did not point to the spot. RWO could have had few qualms had he done so. Then, seven minutes later, Herbert Bockhorn had a major opportunity to put the visitors 2-1 ahead, only for Patrick Bade in the Oberhausen goal to make a great save. There was little action of note in the final minutes and the match, watched by 2,218 spectators, ended 1-1 with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and the Borussia Dortmund U23s sharing the spoils.

Outlook:
The match against RW Oberhausen was the last of the 2018 calendar year. The U23s will now pause for a deserved winter break before resuming their season with a friendly scheduled for 19 January.

BVB U23s: Oelschlägel – Bockhorn, Pieper, Konate, Rente, Burnic – Schwermann, Gomez (Pavlidis, 61), Hober (Kilian, 88) – Isak (Rizzo, 90), Boyamba

Goals: 0-1 Boyamba (Schwermann, 26), 1-1 Gödde (pen., 44)