The away match against VfB Homberg on Matchday 18 of the Regionalliga West ended in a 0-0 draw for Borussia Dortmund's U23s on Saturday afternoon. Despite being the better team by far, BVB, who are normally so reliable in the final third, did not manage to score a goal.

The scenario: VfB Homberg have collected 17 points after 17 games and were 15th in the table before kick-off. Head coach Sunay Acar's team are in the middle of a relegation battle and were only two points above the relegation zone. BVB were in second, six points behind the league leaders, RW Essen, but with three games in hand.

Personnel matters: BVB coach Enrico Maaßen made two changes after the abandoned match against Oberhausen. Ansgar Knauff and Tobias Raschl replaced Alaa Bakir and Dominik Wanner. 

The match: On the very deep grass of the pitch in the PCC-Stadion in Duisburg, BVB took the initiative early in the match. A shot from Tobias Raschl in the first minute and a header by Steffen Tigges in the second were the first two of many efforts aimed towards the hosts' goal. Homberg defended in a compact 4-1-4-1 system and packed the midfield tight. Despite this, BVB repeatedly managed to play smart balls in between and behind the lines. Ansgar Knauff had the biggest chance of the game after seven minutes. The 18-year-old was denied by VfB goalkeeper Philipp Gutkowski from ten metres. The Black and Yellows created chance after chance, as Homberg struggled to get out of their own half. 

In the middle of the first half, Borussia remained in control of the game, but did not manage to create any clear chances. Homberg defended even more compactly and managed to keep BVB as far as possible away from the penalty area. The flow of the game was interrupted time and again by fouls. Overall, BVB did not managed to find the right tempo, in part because the conditions were not exactly ideal. The two sides headed into the break at 0-0.

BVB coach Enrico Maaßen brought on Dominik Wanner for Florian Krebs at half-time. It took ten minutes before the first chance of the second half, as Ansgar Knauff set up Steffen Tigges. The captain rounded the goalkeeper, Gutkowski, but his shot from a tight angle struck a Homberg defender, who cleared the ball off the line, sending it out for a corner. The away side were gradually losing their strength, but BVB had many opportunities, primarily from set pieces. Homberg were penned into their own penalty area and BVB tried everything to take all three points. Moritz Broschinski played his first competitive match for the BVB after a long time on the sidelines with an injury. Broschinski came on with eight minutes still to play, but even the final barrage of shots was to no avail and the game ended goalless. 

Outlook: The third attempt to play the home match against RW Oberhausen is scheduled for next Wednesday. Kick-off is at 14:00 CET in the Fußballpark Hohenbuschei. 

Team & goals
BVB U23s: Unbehaun, Maloney, Hippe, Hober, Tachie (Broschinski, 82), Tigges, Pfanne, Krebs (Wanner, 46), Dams, Knauff, Raschl (Bakir, 65)