The Borussia Dortmund U23s were the deserved winners in a one-sided game away to SV Lippstadt. Goals from Steffen Tigges, Taylan Duman, Richmond Tachie and Philipp Harlaß sealed a 4-0 victory for BVB and took them back to the top of the table.

The scenario: BVB went into this match with an almost flawless record of eight wins and two draws from their opening 10 games. Meanwhile, coach Felix Bechtold's Lippstadt side were down in 18th in the table, having taken 10 points from their first 13 games. SVL were beaten 4-0 by Preußen Münster in their previous outing last weekend.

Personnel matters: BVB coach Enrico Maaßen made one change to the starting XI that faced Preußen Münster 14 days ago. Dominik Wanner was drafted in to replace Kolbeinn Finnsson, who has been away on international duty with Iceland over the past few days.

The match & analysis: Barely 60 seconds had been played when the Lippstadt goal was threatened for the first time. Niklas Dams played a lovely diagonal ball to Dominik Wanner, who tried to feed Steffen Tigges rather than going for goal himself. That proved to be the wrong choice, however, as a Lippstadt defender was able to block the attempted pass. That move was followed by wave after wave of BVB attack, and the scoring was eventually opened in the fourth minute when Wanner fed Duman at the back post. He cut the ball back to Steffen Tigges, who slotted home to make it 1-0. 

Most of the attacks in the opening stages came down the Dortmund left, in part thanks to some brilliant diagonal balls from Marco Hober. All that was missing was some precision in front of goal, but the 1-0 scoreline was a fair reflection at this point of the match. Lippstadt were in all-out defensive mode and had no opportunities whatsoever in the opening half an hour. Dortmund, on the other hand, doubled their lead on the 33-minute mark when Taylan Duman fired in a free-kick from a centre-left position around 25 metres out to make it 2-0. It was an eighth goal in 10 games this season for Duman, whose strike gave the visitors a two-goal cushion at the break. 

The Black & Yellows launched one attack after another in the second half and already had victory in their sights after 50 minutes when Richmond Tachie managed to find the net in the aftermath of a corner-kick to make it 3-0. The Borussia Dortmund reserves were the clearly superior side and they could have added further goals around the hour mark in this game. It was around this point that Enrico Maaßen made his first changes, with Philipp Harlaß and Florian Krebs replacing Richmond Tachie and Marco Hober.

Borussia slowed down the tempo but continued to look dangerous going forward, with Philipp Harlaß adding another to make it 4-0 after rounding the Lippstadt goalkeeper in the 74th minute. The only downside was that Alaa Bakir had to be substituted with an injury after being fouled, with Aday Ercan coming on in his stead. A Lippstadt defender was given a second booking for the foul on Bakir, meaning that the home side were reduced to 10 men. The closing stages saw Henri Weigelt make his comeback for the Dortmund reserves following a long spell on the sidelines with injury. There were no further chances in the final minutes, as BVB saw out their ninth victory in 11 games. 

Match reactions
Lennard Maloney: "We came here with a clear mind and absolutely wanted to win the match. We want to go all out in every game and we managed to do that again today. We're still in a top mental condition despite the crazy schedule. That's what sets a top team apart. Now I'm looking forward to the derby on Saturday."

Outlook: The U23s are away in Gelsenkirchen for the derby on Saturday (13:00 CET).

Team & goals

BVB U23s: Drljaca, Maloney, Hippe (Weigelt, 82), Hober (Krebs, 68), Bakir (Ercan, 74), Duman, Tachie (Harlaß, 68), Tigges, Pfanne, Dams, Wanner

Goals: 0-1 Tigges (4), 0-2 Duman (33), Tachie (50), 0-4 Harlaß (74)