Felix Nmecha’s second brace of the season saw Borussia Dortmund run out 2-1 winners over Elversberg after a tense finish at the Westfalenstadion, duly ensuring that they will remain level on points with leaders Bayern Munich over the November international break.
Going into the weekend as one of just four teams in Europe’s top-five leagues yet to taste a league defeat, Dortmund unsurprisingly went closest to breaking the deadlock, with 17 minutes on the clock when Fabio Silva tried to beat Nicolas Kristof from distance, only to miss the post by a whisker.
Dortmund didn’t build on that in any useful way though, and Daniel Svensson was lucky not to escape a severe punishment when he caught Lukas Pinckert on the ankle soon after Silva’s miss.
Silva and Nmecha then fired off target as Dortmund sought to make it a winning reunion with Elversberg, a full 45 years after their only prior meeting.
However, the visitors continued to hold firm right up to the interval, and they might even have taken a shock lead on the stroke of half-time, had Francis Onyeka placed a drive from the edge of the box just a few inches to the left.
Frustrating though a goalless first half had been for Dortmund, there was still reason for them to hope for better after the break, having netted 11 of their 14 prior league goals in the second half.
And although Onyeka found himself thwarted by an excellent Gregor Kobel save, Dortmund finally got the breakthrough barely a minute later, when a giveaway in the danger zone allowed Silva to pick out Nmecha, who fired into the bottom-left corner.
Nmecha was by far the biggest threat to Elversberg throughout the second half, and he completed his brace in the 71st minute. Silva once more played a role, and while Maximilian Beier was charged down onto the deck when he tried to shoot, the ball fell to Nmecha, who unleashed an unstoppable rocket inside the right post from long range.
The Westfalenstadion erupted, but with Dortmund having conceded five of their previous six domestic goals after the hour mark, there was still a sense that one more Dortmund goal would be needed to truly seal the deal.
And that proved true with nine minutes to play, when Elversberg halved the deficit in spectacular fashion. A short corner and cross found Florian Le Joncour, who directed back across goal for Noel Futkeu to smash an overhead kick past Kobel.
An injury-time Felix Keidel free-kick – and a subsequent succession of corners – had the nerves jangling, but Dortmund held firm, keeping themselves on pace with rivals Bayern in what could be a gripping title race.
Meanwhile, Elversberg have now won just one of their last 10 away league matches (D4, L5).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund)
Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.