The Albany Gazette - Beier late show sends Dortmund top of Bundesliga

In a game lacking clear chances, Jobe Bellingham came off the bench and threaded a clever pass for fellow substitute Beier to score less than a minute later.

The narrow victory was Dortmund's first in the league since mid-September and took Niko Kovac's side three points clear atop the Bundesliga table.

Bayern Munich can return to the top of the table with a win at Freiburg on Sunday but will be without coach Vincent Kompany, who is being treated in hospital for a mystery virus after collapsing at training on Friday.

Dortmund had started the season with a run of six straight wins but came into Saturday's game in a mini slump, having won just one of their past four in all competitions.

The best opportunity of the first-half fell to Serhou Guirassy with 15 minutes gone. The Guinean was one on one with Noah Atubolu but tried a soft chip, which the goalkeeper palmed away.

Just after the break, Guirassy headed a Joey Veerman corner against the bar.

Beier came on for the ineffective Fabio Silva with 22 minutes remaining. With 10 minutes left, Beier collected a Bellingham pass and curled in the winner from just inside the box.

It was the second time in four league games Beier was the only scorer in a 1-0 Dortmund win.

- Fuellkrug 'shines bright' -

Niclas Fuellkrug scored for the sixth straight Bundesliga match as his Werder Bremen side won 3-2 at Mainz.

Fuellkrug, who returned to Bremen on loan from English Championship side West Ham in the summer, converted two penalties inside the opening 25 minutes to notch up a second straight Bundesliga brace.

Ludovit Reis grabbed Bremen's other goal, while Anthony Caci and Lee Jae-sung scored for the hosts.

Fuellkrug now has eight goals this season, half of his total in his final campaign in Bremen in 2022/23, when he won the Bundesliga top-goalscorer award.

The Germany striker scored just three goals during an injury-hit 18-month spell at West Ham and just one in a six-month loan at AC Milan.

Bremen coach praised his in-form striker, telling reporters: "You can tell that he feels comfortable.

"He is our guiding star -- and he's shining brightly right now. He's carrying this team along with him."

RB Leipzig rebounded from their 4-1 thumping away at Real Madrid midweek with a comfortable 4-0 home win over promoted Elversberg.

Romulo scored a double while Tidiam Gomis, who scored Leipzig's only goal at the Bernabeu, and Christoph Baumgartner also got on the scoresheet as the Saxons climbed to fifth.

Without a point away from home, Leipzig have now won their four home games by a collective score of 18-0.

Paderborn's Rayan Philippe scored in the 88th minute against his parent club Hamburg to grab the promoted side a 1-0 victory in what was just their second win of the season.

Augsburg drew 1-1 with Union Berlin as both sides finished with 10 men. Han-Noah Massengo scored for the hosts on the 71-minute mark but Union's Janik Haberer levelled things up three minutes later.

Elsewhere, Cologne and Schalke played out a scoreless draw in a match marred by an ugly clash of heads between visiting players Robin Gosens and Soufiane El-Faouzi, who both left the field after the first-half collision.

(K.Lee--TAG)