Sloppy Borussia Dortmund labour to 1-1 draw against Augsburg

The frustrations continued for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday afternoon as they failed to arrest their slide in the Bundesliga. The Black and Yellows were held to a 1-1 draw by Augsburg, with Donyell Malen cancelling out Ermedin Demirović's opener.

Borussia Dortmund will certainly be ruing their missed opportunities late in the game. But they also looked laboured and lethargic for much of the opening 70 minutes. And had it not been for some woeful finishing from the Bavarians, the result could have been a lot worse for Edin Terzic's side.

Augsburg began the game on the front foot as Borussia Dortmund struggled to deal with their high intensity and pressing early on. But the first real chance of the game fell to Marco Reus, who forced a fingertip save from Finn Dahmen. Ramy Bensebaini then nearly found the back of the net with a fine flick.

The home side's strong start to the game certainly deserved a goal, and it arrived mid-way through the first-half as Ermedin Demirović took advantage of Borussia Dortmund's high-line and brushed aside Nico Schlotterbeck comfortably before finishing past Gregor Kobel.

Borussia Dortmund issued a subdued response to going behind, but got back on level terms out of nowhere in the 35th minute with Donyell Malen finding the bottom corner from the edge of the box after some really good hold-up play by Niclas Füllkrug.

The equaliser helped swing the momentum in Borussia Dortmund's favour, but Augsburg regained control of the game at the start of the second-half. Sloppy BVB defending allowed the Bavarians to create a couple of really good chances, but they were hampered time and again by their poor finishing. Phillip Tietz and Dion Drena Beljo both came close to scoring for Augsburg in the second-half.

Borussia Dortmund had a fair few chances of their own in the closing stages. Füllkrug forced an excellent save with an acrobatic effort, and also fired a couple of headers wide. Malen and Gio Reyna also came close without really looking like scoring.

A draw was a fair result in the end, even if Borussia Dortmund might feel that their late game dominance warranted a victory. BVB have now gone five games without a win, and another must-win clash against Mainz 05 awaits them at home on Tuesday.