Park snatches win as Dortmund run goes on
Thursday, September 17, 2015
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Dortmund 2-1 Krasnodar
Park Joo Ho marked his Dortmund debut in dramatic style as he dived to head in a stoppage-time winner and make it ten successive victories.
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- Park Joo Ho, a summer signing from Mainz, scores 93rd-minute clincher
- Dortmund extend winning start to 2015/16 to ten matches
- Crowd of 55,200 a group stage record, surpassing Schalke 04 v Steaua in 2011 (53,123)
- On-loan midfielder Adnan Januzaj shines in first start for Dortmund
- Next games: Krasnodar v Qäbälä, PAOK v Dortmund (1 October)
Debutant Park Joo Ho swooped to head in a dramatic 93rd-minute winner as Dortmund denied Krasnodar a share of the UEFA Europa League Group C spoils.
BVB's nine-match winning start to the season was coming to a surprising end as they struggled to break down a dogged Krasnodar team that led for much of the first half after Pavel Mamaev's early strike. Matthias Ginter nodded the equaliser on half-time, and it was the full-back's cross that Park dived to meet at the death.
Dortmund went into the game riding the crest of a wave after nine successive victories, but it was quickly apparent they would not have it all their own way. Twelve minutes in, Fedor Smolov beat Ginter with a feint and side-footed a cross for Mamaev to stab in at the near post.
Ginter made amends later in the half as he headed in Park's cross, but only after a few scares at the back for Dortmund. Perhaps the biggest came just before the equaliser, Roman Weidenfeller scrambling off his line to beat Smolov to a long ball – by millimetres.
It was all Dortmund in the second period, with Adnan Januzaj, given licence to roam, in the thick of it. Time and again the final ball let them down and even when they did force an opening they found Andriy Dykan in fine fettle. There was no denying Park, though.