The Borussia Dortmund U23s will play their first Regionalliga game of 2018 when they take on SG Wattenscheid 09 on Thursday evening (kick-off 19:30 CET). The trip to the tradition-steeped Lohrheidestadion comes 82 days after Jan Siewert's charges, who have been waiting for weeks to return to competitive action, last played in the league.

The Black & Yellows' mid-season hiatus began following a 2-0 home victory over Wegberg-Beeck at the start of December and they now have several games in hand to play. Indeed, the number of games played varies so significantly across the Regionalliga West that the table reveals very little. Jan Siewert's charges currently find themselves in fourth spot having played 17 matches.

The players recharged their batteries and prepared for the second half of the season during an intensive training camp on the Spanish Mediterranean Coast. Despite there being some personnel changes over the course of the winter break, the integration process has been very smooth and the Black & Yellows managed to record a 1-0 victory over Hammer SpVg in their final friendly last Sunday (goalscorer: Jonas Arweiler).

On Thursday BVB will be facing the ninth-placed side in the Regionalliga West. Wattenscheid have already played one fixture in 2018, having been involved in a spectacular 3-3 draw with league leaders KFC Uerdingen on Sunday. Dortmund will be hoping for a repeat of their previous meeting this season at the Rote Erde Stadion in August 2017, when goals from Michael Eberwein und Oliver Steurer handed the hosts a deserved 2-1 win. 

Timo Lammert

The upcoming fixtures at a glance:

23/02/2018      19:30 CET        SG Wattenscheid (A)
25/02/2018      15:00 CET        SC Verl (H)
03/03/2018      14:00 CET        SV Rödinghausen (A)
10/03/2018      14:00 CET        Viktoria Köln (H)
13/03/2018      19:00 CET        1. FC Köln II (H)