Under-23s with convincing 4-1 win against Cottbus | OneFootball

The scenario: After four draws in a row, the 1-0 win against Verl came as a small redemption for BVB. The win gave the Under-23s space to breathe in their battle to avoid relegation. Meanwhile, the visitors from Cottbus are on course to march into the second Bundesliga. In the past week, however, the promotion ambitions of the team from Lusatia suffered two significant setbacks (1-5 against 1860 Munich, 0-1 against Rot-Weiss Essen).

Personnel matters: Following the crucial 1-0 win against SC Verl, BVB coach Jan Zimmerman made five changes to his starting eleven: Marcel Lotka, Kjell Wätjen, Almugera Kabar and Julien Duranville, who during the week were all part of the first team squad for the Champions League, replaced Silas Ostrzinski, David Lelle, Danylo Krevsun and Ayman Azhil (all on the bench). In attack, Paul-Philipp Besong took the place of Jordi Paulina, who was injured in the game against Verl and was not part of the squad. Julian Hettwer started on the bench again.

Match report: With BVB first team coach Niko Kovac and BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl looking on, both teams started the game energetically and ambitiously. An early attempt by Dortmund's Tony Reitz flew clearly past the goal (2).

After this, Cottbus started to apply more pressure and unsettled the Under-23s early, meaning that the Black&Yellows were quick to lose the ball. However, not much came out of this apart from a distance shot by Henry Rorig, which BVB keeper Marcel Lotka parried magnificently (13). Then, just a few seconds after the visiting team's first shot on goal, BVB went into the lead - and Cottbus actively lent a hand. Kjell Wätjen intercepted a pass in the opposing team's penalty area, and held his nerve as he took the shot. With no one else between him and the goal, he sent the ball flying past Cottbus goalkeeper Elias Bethke, and Dortmund were one goal up.

With a goal under their belts, Zimmerman's team appeared more confident and their defence was well staggered. Although Cottbus had more possession, they weren't able to do much with it against the Borussians who were waiting to launch a counter-attack. Timmy Thiele's attempt with his heel (33) remained the visiting team's best chance.

In a wild final phase in the first half there was significantly more going on in front of the Cottbus goal. After winning the ball, Franz Roggow sent Wätjen off up the pitch. This time, though, the 19 year old's shot - although there was no one between him and Bethke - was too rushed (37). Shortly after this huge chance, the lively Julien Duranville outskilled several defenders, and from a good eleven metres away forced Bethke to make a brilliant save. Even the 22 year old was powerless to do anything with the resulting corner, though. Centre-back Yannik Lührs easily got his head to the ball and tapped it in to extend BVB's lead to two goals (38).

And it got even better for the Black&Yellows, who again made a strong switch after winning the ball. Bethke managed to parry Duranville's chip shot, but the ball landed directly at the feet of Paul-Philipp Besong, who had run up alongside him, and who only needed to tap it in (42). For the attacker, who had been unable to play for months due to injury, it was his first goal of the season. This meant that BVB left the pitch at half time 3-0 up.

Zimmermann brought on two new players after half time: Krevsun and Hettwer replaced Jessen and Duranville. At first, however, Dortmund's defence came under pressure as Cottbus started the second half very energetically and were hungry for a goal: first, Tolcay Cigercis' attempt from a central position was thwarted by Lotka (49), then Kabar blocked a shot by Rorig and a corner was given (53). The corner blew up in the Cottbus players' faces: Michael Eberwein passed to Hettwer, who made a sprint towards the opposing team's half and then passed to Besong. The attacker didn't waste the opportunity and chipped the ball over the keeper and into the net, extending BVB's lead to 4-0 (54). Six minutes later, Hettwer gave away another huge chance.

In the 70th minute, Cigerci scored a penalty to make it 1-4. Hüning had taken out Maximilian Krauß on the right hand edge of the penalty area. But the goal didn't give the opposing team much momentum. Instead, BVB continued to look like the most dangerous team, showing confident ball control when they were in possession, though Hettwer's shot following a cross and a commendable individual effort by Rodney Elongo-Yombo, who came on as a substitute, hit the outside of the net (81).

Their second win in a row gave the Black&Yellows more valuable points in their battle to avoid relegation. The result increased BVB's distance from the relegation zone to five points.

Coach Jan Zimmermann: "Today the game went the way we wanted it to go. The first goal came after a great press by Wätjen, and the second goal came from a set piece. After the first two goals, it just clicked. The boys were brimming with enthusiasm. When you have a team like the team we have today, you can see the potential that's there. And today the boys played really great football, including after going a goal up. Now we're in a really strong position going into the last five games, we have a lot of self confidence, and we have lots of players on board again."