Wätjen rescues a point for U23s against Viktoria Köln | OneFootball

The scenario: The U23s started Matchday 29 of the 3. Liga season in 14th place in the table. Although they drew at leaders Dynamo Dresden during the week, the Black & Yellows had only won one of their last eight games. One reason for this is the fact that BVB had not scored a goal in their last 270 minutes of football. Sixth-placed Viktoria Köln won 1-0 against Rot-Weiss Essen on Wednesday evening.

Personnel matters: BVB coach Jan Zimmermann, who was again without a number of players, made three changes to his starting XI at the end of the English week: Almugera Kabar came into the team to replace Patrick Göbel. The 18-year-old played in his usual left-back position. Ben Hüning lined up on the right side of the back four. Kjell Wätjen and Jordi Paulina also came in for Tony Reitz and Paul-Philipp Besong.

The match: The Black & Yellows endeavoured to control the game and the ball in the first few minutes, but lacked penetration in attack. The only time the home side came close to goal was with a tame header from Hüning in the seventh minute.

The visitors from Cologne didn't shy away from the challenge. Driven on by the eye-catching talent of Malek El Mala, the visitors repeatedly tried to switch the play quickly after winning the ball. However, because the BVB defence and goalkeeper Silas Ostrzinski were attentive to the danger, these transitional moments were largely dealt with before they could become truly dangerous. As a result, the game unfolded into something of a midfield battle.

In the 23rd minute, BVB coach Zimmermann loudly demanded "more pressure" from his team. Dortmund continued to fight hard, but were still not able to put the visitors under the cosh. The passes and crosses in the final third were too imprecise to cause the Cologne side's defence any problems.

Zimmermann brought on two fresh pairs of legs for the second half in Babis Drakas and Patrick Göbel, who was making his 300th appearance in the 3. Liga. However, BVB immediately found themselves a goal down in front of the crowd of 1,406 spectators when Viktoria took the lead with their first real shot on goal of the match. Attacker Lex-Tyger Lobinger played a one-two with Lopes Cabral and then fired home from around 17 metres to make it 1-0.

The goal had not necessarily been coming, but now BVB found themselves under pressure. But the home side responded well, looking to attack and get back level. That said, they still struggled to pose a real threat, with their best effort being a first-time shot from Drakas which whizzed wide of the left post (59).

However, the Black & Yellows refused to give up - and were soon rewarded. A misplaced pass in Viktoria's build-up play was pounced upon by BVB: Franz Roggow played the ball to Kjell Wätjen in the penalty area, who fired the ball into the left corner of the net (80). The goal drought had been broken. Shortly before, Viktoria midfielder Robin Velasco, who had already been substituted off, was shown a red card on the bench.

The game was very tense in the closing stages. Hüning had the best opportunity to score the winner for BVB, but his header flew over the bar (85). Down the other end, Ostrzinski made a strong save in the final minute.

Coach Jan Zimmermann: "This point is very valuable for my young team, even though we had a very sloppy game. But at least we didn't let going behind throw us and we came back. And we did that against one of the strongest teams in the league. I hope this point gives us a bit of energy."

Outlook: After the international break, the U23s will pick things up with an away match. On Saturday, 29 March, the Black & Yellows travel to face Waldhof Mannheim. Kick-off at the Carl-Benz Stadium is at 14:00 CET.