An early Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal handed Thomas Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund side a 1-0 victory over FC Ingolstadt 04 on Matchday 25 of the Bundesliga season, on a night where the Bavarian side could have deservedly walked away from the Westfalenstadion with all three points with better finishing.

One chance, one goal

Dortmund had made the perfect start on their last outing on home soil, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring after just four minutes in their crucial Champions League tie against SL Benfica. However, the same lightning start wasn't to come against Maik Walpurgis' plucky Bundesliga strugglers, as die Schanzer made life difficult for Thomas Tuchel's impervious North-Rhine Westphalian side in the opening stages at the Westfalenstadion.

However, with the Bundesliga's top scorer within their ranks in Aubameyang, die Schwarzgelben are a constant threat. So it came as no surprise that when the first chance of the game fell the way of the Gabonese striker, he made Ingolstadt pay. After Florent Hadergjonaj's slight hesitation, Marcel Schmelzer found himself in acres of space down the left flank; the Borussia Dortmund captain played an inch perfect cross into the path of Aubameyang and the 27-year-old cooly stroked the ball into the near post and beyond a hapless Martin Hansen. Ingolstadt's resolute defence broken within a quarter of an hour.

The early goal would surely have made grim reading for die Schanzer coach, Maik Walpurgis. Indeed, Ingolstadt have struggled to score this campaign and are the joint third lowest scorers in the Bundesliga. Furthermore, once they've fallen behind in a game, the Bavarian's have only been able to pick up a meager two points from those losing positions; in the two draws against HSV and 1. FC Köln. The signs were therefore ominous for the relegation threatened club, only formed in 2004.

Nevertheless, it was the Bavarian minnows that pushed for the second goal of the game and it would have been one that was thoroughly deserved. Matthew Leckie saw a powerful header saved low at the feet of Roman Bürki and former Eintracht Frankfurt man, Sonny Kittel, saw his effort saved at point blank range by the Switzerland international, whilst the tireless pressing of Darío Lezcano created a number of half chances that deserved a better delivery than what was forthcoming.

Ingolstadt had been culpable of wasting some guilt edge chances, but none more so than Alfredo Morales. The American international, who was born in Berlin, was presented with perhaps the best sight on goal in the first half for die Schanzer, after Hadergjonaj's cross; but could only send his close range headed effort wide of Bürki's goal - when it looked easier to score.

It was an all too similar story in the first half for Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund side. It has been the inability to see off the lower sides in the Bundesliga that has seen die Schwarzgelben fall some sixteen points off table-topping Bayern Munich. That said, both Raphaël Guerreiro and Erik Durm had clear cut chances towards the end of the half to make it what would have been an undeserved two goal lead; but on both occasions the end result was similar, with the ball sailing high and wide onto the north terrace at Signal Iduna Park.

Ingolstadt controversially denied

You began to wonder how many clear cut chances it was going to take for FC Ingolstadt 04 to get a deserved equaliser, as the Australian Leckie was the next culprit of squandering a sight on goal. Matthias Ginter's miscued clearance fell straight into the path of the former Borussia Mönchengladbach man, but at the crucial moment Leckie lost his nerve and ballooned the ball well wide of the Borussia Dortmund goal.

Clearly frustrated with what he was seeing, the 43-year-old Schwarzgelben boss, Tuchel, decided to make a tactical change early in the second half. Julian Weigl was introduced at the expense of Guerreiro, but whilst heralding more Dortmund possession, it didn't have the desired effect as the North-Rhine Westphalian side continued to flatter to deceive. Sokratis Papastathopoulos' improvised effort that tricked wide of Hansen's goal, the closest Dortmund would come in the openings forays of the second half.

Then came perhaps the most controversial moment in the match, as the Bavarian visitors were denied what appeared a clear cut penalty. Lezcano had taken down a lofted ball in the Dortmund area and then appeared to be felled by Bürki, but referee Daniel Siebert waved away any appeals from the Ingolstadt players. Further replays displayed that Lezcano and die Schanzer may be justified in their sense of injustice, as the former SC Freiburg 'keeper made no contact with the ball.

Die Schwarzgelben came close to an unusual second, when Durm's improvised effort was just about kept out by the Dane, Hansen. Nonetheless, it was the Bavarian side who were pushing for what would seem just reward for their endeavour. Marvin Matip curled a close range effort wide of the Dortmund goal, detailing just why the Cameroonian is a central defender rather than a forward, after some neat link-up play with his Paraguayuan team-mate, Lezcano.

Try as they might however, Ingolstadt were unable to get the all important goal that would salvage a crucial point. At the crucial moments, die Schanzer simply didn't have the quality to hurt Dortmund and it was this inefficiency that seen the Bavarian side slip towards relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. That vice was evident by the fact that Ingolstadt have scored only 23 goals all season, the same amount that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has on his own for Borussia Dortmund. It had been Aubameyang's telling contribution, that had proven the difference between the two sides on Friday evening.