Borussia Dortmund's U23s marked the start of the second half of their Regionalliga West campaign with a 1-0 (0-0) victory over Ruhr neighbours Rot-Weiss Essen. Massimo Ornatelli scored the only goal of a match played under floodlights and in temperatures bordering on freezing as the Black & Yellows deservedly claimed all three points.

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BVB adopted their usual attack-minded approach and created their first chance through Denzeil Boadu after three minutes, though his effort was thwarted by the Essen shot-stopper. The visitors dominated possession and repeatedly looked to pick out the gaps between RWE's two compact banks of four, while the hosts struggled to cope with the Black & Yellows' offensive counter-pressing and made little out of the possession they had. Borussia Dortmund's youngsters repeatedly got close to the Essen goal but didn't create clear goalscoring opportunities so, despite the visitors having the game firmly under control, the first half ended goalless.

The young Black & Yellows continued to dictate proceedings after the restart, with coach Jan Siewert's charges determined to claim the all-important three points in this away match. Essen, though, remained largely solid at the back and made it difficult for BVB to get in behind their defence. In such situations, set-pieces can make all the difference – as BVB demonstrated in their recent clash with Bonner SC – and they finally got their breakthrough when Massimo Ornatelli followed up his effort from last week by scoring a free-kick from 25 metres out in the 55th minute. It was, by that point of the evening, a deserved lead as BVB had invested significantly more in the match than RWE.

After the hour-mark though, the hosts gradually showed more courage and began to venture forward. But Dominik Reimann, again a standout performer between the sticks for BVB, dealt with their meagre efforts and so an Essen equaliser was never really on the cards. Borussia Dortmund played out the last 20 minutes comfortably and calmly, finishing the evening with a straightforward 1-0 win over their neighbours.

The defeat sees the U23s, who still have two games in hand, move up to fourth in the Regionalliga West table – for one night at least. Their next league game comes when they take on SC Verl next Saturday afternoon. Three days later, on 28 November, they will play their rescheduled match with FC Köln II.
Timo Lammert