U23s lose 2-0 at Rot-Weiss Essen | OneFootball

The Borussia Dortmund U23s lost 2-0 (0-0) away to Rot-Weiss Essen in front of 16,267 spectators on Sunday. The Black & Yellows did not take advantage of their chances in the first period and returned empty-handed to Dortmund.

The scenario: This meeting between two Ruhr neighbours was an important match for both teams in terms of the relegation battle. Following the Saturday matches, BVB were only above the drop zone by virtue of their narrowly superior goal difference. The Black & Yellows went into the game on 21 points, four points and two places behind RWE. A second victory over Essen would have seen BVB reduce the gap to the promoted side and give themselves a bit of breathing space. The U23s ran out 1-0 winners in the reverse fixture thanks to Bradley Fink's goal.

Personnel matters: Coach Jan Zimmermann made three changes to the team that started his first game as coach against Saarbrücken: Marco Pasalic withdrew a few hours before the game due to illness, with Felix Passlack taking up his midfield position. Moses Otuali came in for Cyrill Akono in attack. With the limit of three over-23 players reached – Antonios Papadopoulos, Niklas Dams and Michael Eberwein all made the starting XI – captain Franz Pfanne was omitted from the line-up. "That was not a sporting decision, but one for the rulebook," explained Zimmermann prior to kick-off. "He accepted it from a sporting perspective, even though he would've obviously like to be involved." Pfanne was replaced by Pharell Nnamdi Collins in the three-man defence, with Dams wearing the captain's armband.

The match & analysis: Papadopoulos went for goal with a first-time effort from the edge of the box in the opening stages, forcing Essen goalie Jakob Golz to turn the ball behind for a corner (3). BVB were then lucky not to fall behind: Dams played a cross-field ball in his own box but Essen's Thomas Eisfeld intercepted it and went clean through on Lotka. Dortmund's goalie turned it behind for a corner with his foot, however (14). The all-Ruhr clash continued in entertaining fashion, with Otuali then shooting from inside the Essen box but dragging his low shot wide of the near post (19).

Papadopoulos was increasingly looking like the liveliest player in Dortmund's forward line: he first hit a dangerous free-kick towards goal from around 20 metres out, only for Golz to use both hands to turn the ball over the crossbar (27); then, only a few moments later, Papadopoulos was denied once again by the RWE shot-stopper with an effort from close range at the back post after Pohlmann had crossed from the right flank (28).

Dortmund were spared by the upright a short while later when Essen's right-back Andreas Wiegl advanced up the pitch, received a lay-off from the edge of the box and hit the woodwork (30). On the stroke of half-time, Nnamdi Collins prevented his team going behind with a brave but fair last-ditch challenge on Essen's Torben Müsel, who had surfaced unmarked in the penalty area (43).

RWE ultimately took the lead after the interval, however: Dams attempted to make a clearance from his own box but unintentionally looped the ball up into the air and straight to the feet of Thomas Eisfeld. The Essen player, who once played within the Dortmund youth set-up, met the ball with an unstoppable volley into the top corner to make it 1-0 (50). Lotka then made a strong save to stop Ron Berlinski making it 2-0 with a header, before Oguzhan Kefkir's long-range effort flew narrowly over the Dortmund crossbar seconds later (61).

In the closing stages, the Dortmund team could no longer put RWE under decisive pressure. Meanwhile, the home side hit the post once again through Torben Müsel (84). A few seconds later, the net bulged once more: Essen attacked with purpose and Björn Rother headed home the cross to make it 2-0 (85).

Coach Jan Zimmermann: "We made a good start but allowed Essen into the game with our mistakes throughout the first half. After it went to 1-0, we lost too much of our structure. You could see at that point that it's a young team that wanted to stick to the plan but could not in the way we had envisaged. We had some good situations but spurned them in too hectic a manner. We could no longer set ourselves in motion up front, we were lacking the knockout blow there."

Outlook: The U23s will host SV Waldhof Mannheim at the Niederrhein-Stadion in Oberhausen this coming Saturday (14:00 CET).

U23s: Lotka – Collins (Michel, 59), Dams, Coulibaly (Gürpüz, 82) – Passlack, Pohlmann, Papadopoulos, Rothe (Kamara, 65) – Eberwein – Otuali (Elongo-Yombo, 65), Njinmah (Akono, 82).

Goals: 1-0 Eisfeld (51), 2-0 Rother (85).

Daniel Mertens