U23s fight back to draw 2-2 with Wuppertal

BVB boss Jan Siewert was forced to make several changes to the starting XI that faced Fortuna Düsseldorf in midweek. The congested fixture list of late has made its mark, and as a result Serra, Bockhorn and Bah-Traore were all left out of the squad. There was, however, a return for Jo-Hoo Park, who made the starting line-up. BVB operated in a 4-2-3-1 system with Michael Eberwein as the lone frontman, while Sören Dieckmann and Beyhan Ametov operated on the flanks.

The first goalscoring opportunity fell to Wuppertal on the six-minute mark, though Gino Windmüller fired his effort wide of the mark. They were not to be denied three minutes later, though, when Christopher Kramer latched on to a cross into the penalty area and fired an unstoppable effort past Dominik Reimann in the Borussia Dortmund goal to open the scoring for the visitors. It was the worst possible start the hosts could have made to such an important match, and the visitors continued to set the pace, troubling the BVB rearguard in the opening stages with dangerous counter-attacks via their pacey wingers. Other than a shot by Ornatelli after 15 minutes, Borussia created very little going forward.

The few chances the Black & Yellows did have came via set-pieces, and they created their first attempt on goal on the 25-minute mark when Mainka headed Pflücke's corner goalbound. They looked livelier in the period that followed, with Wuppertal content to sit back and counter. The hosts saw lots of the ball in the opposition half, though they struggled to carve out much of a threat in front of goal and so Wuppertal retained their slender 1-0 lead until the half-time interval.

Jan Siewert introduced Anargyros Kampetsis to the fray in the second half in a bid to bolster the attacking threat. He replaced Sören Dieckmann, whose place on the flank was taken by Pflücke. Brimming with motivation, the Black & Yellows made a flying start to the second period and came close to equalising with a Mainka header on 48 minutes. Wuppertal sat much deeper in their own half after the break, continuing to rely on counters while BVB set the pace.

The visitors used one of their counter-attacks to deadly effect in the 57th minute when Enzo Wirtz tapped in Gaetano Manno's assist to double their advantage. It was a bitter setback for the Black & Yellows, who seemed to have just settled into their rhythm before the goal.

But BVB remained unperturbed after conceding the second, with Patrick Pflücke setting up Beyhan Ametov to score and reduce the deficit to one goal. By this point there was half an hour remaining for the hosts to complete the comeback and they really upped the ante, finally getting the better of their deep-lying opponents to level the scores from another set-piece in the 67th minute. Pflücke took the free-kick and picked out captain Mainka, who headed home to make it 2-2. It was Borussia's best spell of the game. Wuppertal were in disarray, looked flat and at times appeared overwhelmed by the hosts' high-tempo game.

Having equalised, Borussia wanted more and Jan Siewert brought on Philipp Hanke to replace Jo-Hoo Park in the closing stages. But Michael Eberwein was then sent off for a second bookable offence shortly before the final whistle, having caught an opponent on the foot, and the Black & Yellows were forced onto the defensive for the last three minutes, hanging on to salvage a point. All in all, the hosts had picked up a draw against the team currently sitting third in the table and kept themselves in the chasing pack towards the top of the Regionalliga West.

Speaking after the match, BVB coach Jan Siewert felt it was a good performance from his side: "We were caught napping in the first 10 minutes. Wuppertal caused us problems today. But my team bounced back very strongly. We showed a lot of passion today. I'm very satisfied and I think the draw is a good result."
Timo Lammert