A deserved win for the U23 squad

It was a perfect start in the Roten Erde stadium: BVB showed excellent cohesion from the get-go which resulted in Taylan Duman facilitating a rapid run from Jospeh Boyamba on the right side. The captain infiltrated the danger area and pulled the trigger, firing it into the far left corner - the Black and Yellows were in the lead after just a few moments. The U23 attacking line-up contributed three players, Steffen Tigges and Chris Führich, along with Boyamba, to the senior squad for Friday's afternoon friendly fixture against Energie Cottbus. The players were clearly inspired by their performance and the three attackers continued to turn up the heat.

There was barely time to breathe before the action started again. This time, after a kerfuffle in the visitors' 18-yard box, Führich made an attempt on goal but the Homberg goalkeeper prevented his team from a two-goal deficit with a fine save. Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Eric Oelschlägel was left twiddling his thumbs for the first 15 minutes and had probably hoped for a peaceful afternoon - then the newly-promoted visitors came knocking with a long-range effort into the top corner, Dortmund's goalie made a spectacular acrobatic save to keep his team clear from danger. After half an hour of playing time, Borussia took back control: a well-timed one-two pass between Führich und Tigges resulted in Tigges narrowly sending the ball over the bar. Borussia Dortmund also initiated the final piece of action before the break in the 43rd minute, this time it was Magnus Kaastrup's turn to present a fine opportunity but the attempt was blocked, sending the two teams into their dressing rooms with Dortmund narrowly ahead at 1-0.

 1-0 lead at half-time

Shortly after the second half commenced, head coach Mike Tullberg's men were in with a chance: a Homberg free-kick scraped past Oelschlägel's post. Then, ten minutes later, he was forced to dig deep when a Homberg header put him to the test after a corner. Outstanding reflexes on the goal line prevented the visitors from equalising and, immediately afterwards, Führich fired forward on the counter and tried to disarm the keeper with a sensitively weighted lob but the no. 7's chance dinked off the post. It was another missed chance for the winger - he certainly deserved to be on the score-sheet.

It wasn't long before the newcomer who arrived from 1. FC Köln was finally rewarded for his remarkable performance. A well thought out pass from the substitute Marco Hober found Tigges who then fired the ball into the middle where Führich's chance on goal could only be prevented by a foul. Penalty for Borussia. After being taken down in the box, Führich converted the penalty to increase the lead to 2-0. Homberg's goalkeeper managed to scrape the ball with his fingertips, but it was no match for the well-driven penalty (71').

Tigges deals the final blow

The match's defining moment came shortly before the final whistle. Tigges, top goal-scorer for the U23, deservedly struck the final blow. The towering striker took advantage of a strong counter by the Black and Yellows, it was his fifth goal in what is still the early stages of this Regionaliga season. It's BVB's third victory so far and their second consecutive win. This puts the squad in eighth position in the league.

Head coach Mike Tullberg stated, "We were hardly able to train this week, only ten players were available, as many of them were helping out with the Bundesliga squad, the national team and we had some injuries too. So, we are very happy with the victory. We knew it would be difficult, Homberg played well and up until now they haven't suffered a decisive defeat. Our injured players are starting to recover now and we'll have a lot more players available to be even stronger."

Line-up: Oelschlägel – Hippe, Rente, Ruprecht, Wanner – Tunga, Duman (76' Rizzo) – Boyamba (Aydinel), Kaastrup (58' Hober), Führich – Tigges

Goals: 1-0 Boyamba (1-), 2-0 Führich (71'), 3-0 Tigges (90')