Following a goalless opening half in which too many mistakes were made, a firm team-talk from head coach Thomas Sulewski provided the necessary wake-up call and inspired an ultimately deserved 3-0 win over BV Viktoria Kirchderne. The result means that our BVB Women will spend the winter at the summit of the Kreisliga A!

Annika Fälker spurned the first opportunity for the Borussia ladies, who struggled to find their way into the game in front of 350 spectators. That lacklustre start prompted calls from Sulewski from the sideline for his team to up their game, with the visitors making too many errors in the opening 30 minutes. Simple passes did not reach their target, while poor decision-making made for a disjointed match. And on top of that Lea Rogge-Herper's stunning strike into the top corner was disallowed for offside. But even those first chances did not – much to the chagrin of the numerous BVB fans in Kirchderne – spur BVB into life towards the end of the half, and for the time being this meeting with the side in seventh was not especially watchable. Although the home side could hardly escape their own half, the Black & Yellows were not able to convert their obvious dominance into something tangible and the half-time whistle sounded with the score 0-0. To make matters worse, Lea Rogge-Herper had to be substituted with an injury on the stroke of half-time following a collision, with Zabell replacing her. "We slightly underestimated the opponent. The body language was not good, we were not consistent enough going forward either. We spoke about it in the changing room," said Sulewski.

It seemed to have the desired effect, with the first chance coming shortly after the restart, though Zabell missed. But it was finally time to celebrate in the 50th minute, with substitute Vanessa Heim firing a free-kick from 20 metres into the bottom right corner to put BVB 1-0 up! The Borussia ladies were now showing more consistency in their play, with Zabell in particular showing composure and sharpness on the pitch. But then there was a setback as Prinzen was sent off for a professional foul on 61 minutes, though Kirchderne could not make the resulting free-kick count. At the other end, the agile Heim hit the post shortly afterwards. Despite the dismissal, the Dortmund ladies continued to dominate the play – and were soon rewarded again. Zabell countered and perfectly played the ball down the left flank to Heim, who teed up Lau for a tap-in on 71 minutes. Laura Höhl missed the chance to extend the lead with a quarter of an hour remaining. But Zabell eventually wrapped up the win on 81 minutes with an effort from close range to make it 3-0. Lau and Zabell had further chances to increase the margin of victory in the remaining minutes, but the scoreline stayed 3-0 – a fair result given the balance of play – and leaves the Dortmund ladies as deserved winter champions!

There are no competitive games for the BVB Women this weekend but they are still action: a trip to the Münster region for a friendly against SG Selm/Südkirchen awaits (15:00 CET).

BVB: Schröer - Gerres, Jung, Prinzen, Klemann - Rogge-Herper (Zabell, 43), Becker - Höhl, Billig (Glänzer, 63), Fälker (Heim 46) - Kaul (Lau, 46)

Goals: 1-0 Heim (50), 2-0 Lau (71), 3-0 Zabell (81)