"An incorrect decision led to the goal we conceded today," said Mike Tullberg as he reflected on the loss to Regionalliga club TSV Steinbach on Saturday afternoon. The Black & Yellows were beaten by a 1-0 scoreline in the end – their first friendly defeat since pre-season started three weeks ago.

Borussia Dortmund made the better start, with Taylan Duman almost opening the scoring after only three minutes when he thundered a free-kick against the crossbar from 20 metres. BVB continued to set the tone in the period that followed and again came close in the seventh minute when trial player Kai Hatano beat two opponents down the right and found Duman in the middle, only for Steinbach shot-stopper Raphael Koczor to thwart the danger.

TSV Steinberg grew into the game in what remained of the first half and twice went close from corners. But the next moment of danger came at the other end, on the half-hour mark, when BVB took a quick free-kick. Chris Führich cut inside from the right flank and fired a shot at goal with his left-foot, but the Steinbach goalkeeper was once again on hand to deny Tullberg's charges. The last opportunity of note in the first half fell to Timo Becker, another trialist. The defender rose the highest following a corner only to see his header rebound off the post. The loose ball fell to Becker, but he couldn't get his effort on target and the game remained goalless until the interval.

TSV Steinbach had the upper hand in the second period, and Eric Oelschlägel did brilliantly to keep out a Christopher Kramer header on 47 minutes. But the Dortmund shot-stopper was powerless to prevent Kramer from scoring six minutes later, the experienced forward picking up the ball deep in the BVB half and converting from close range to make it 1-0. The goal was followed by a slew of personnel changes on both sides, which in part explains why the remainder of the match did not flow as well.

BVB boss Mike Tullberg switched to a 4-4-2 formation but even then, a Marco Hober effort was the only notable action of the second period. However, the Dane was quick to put the game into perspective in his post-match analysis. "It's not easy to consistently implement what we've been working on in the last three weeks when we have three trialists in the starting XI. Nonetheless, I think our first-half display was very decent. We had another two gilt-edged chances; we simply need to be converting them. Then, in the second period, I made a lot of changes. Some of the lads were in unfamiliar positions. But I'm still annoyed at the goal we conceded, that's clear."

The BVB U23s will be given the day off on Sunday. Their next friendly fixture comes on Wednesday, when they take on FC Eindhoven in Jülich-Barmen at 18:30 CET.

BVB U23: Oelschlägel – Becker (Hippe, 67), Konate (Schwermann, 57), Bünning (Rente, 57), Wanner (Matthews, 81) – Relucio (Hober, 57), Tunga (Tigges, 73), Duman (Aydinel, 57) – Hatano (Boyamba, 57), Rizzo (Et, 57), Führich (Kaastrup, 46)