It’s been seven years since Borussia Dortmund II’s second team won at Rot-Weiss Essen. Massimo Ornatelli scored the 1:0 winner, back then in the Regionalliga West. The only remaining players are Michael Eberwein in black and yellow and Cedric Harenbrock in red and white.

On Sunday (1.30pm, live in the RS ticker), BVB will be looking for another three-pointer. Regardless of their record at Hafenstrasse, they have lost both of their last two games in the 3rd division. The result is a drop to sixth place.

Coach Jan Zimmermann described the defeats against MSV Duisburg and Arminia Bielefeld as “unnecessary”. However, it wasn’t all bad: “Of course, our expectations have risen after many good weeks. But it’s also clear that we can do better.” And: “We urgently need to rectify the mistakes that led to us conceding early goals so that we don’t carry a mortgage around with us again.”

BVB II fears for top scorer ahead of RWE game

But there is also some catching up to do in the middle of the pitch. Injured top scorer Ole Pohlmann, who can point to a strong nine goals and eight assists, has been sorely missed in the last two games. “You’ve seen in the last few games how important Ole Pohlmann is for our game. But we’ve also won games without him,” emphasized Zimmermann. Pohlmann’s involvement is still up in the air.

To a certain extent, this also applies to Dortmund’s season. After a strong phase around the turn of the year, BVB are now stuck on 45 points – one more than opponents Rot-Weiss Essen.

“After the 45-point mark, we had a slight drop in pressure,” criticized Zimmermann, adding: “We didn’t get the last few percentages. We have to be ready to push ourselves to the limit again. It would be a shame if we simply gave up the great starting position that we’ve worked really hard for. “