Paderborn dominated early possession as they looked to take advantage of a Dortmund side who were embroiled in a UEFA Champions League battle against Villarreal on Tuesday, but still found themselves behind within five minutes.
The visitors were caught high up the pitch and paid dearly for losing the ball, with Serhou Guirassy teeing up Fabio Silva for the second time in as many league matches.
This time he threaded a through ball which the Portuguese surged onto, rounded the goalkeeper, and slotted home, duly ending a run of 10 successive goals to come after the break.
Die Schwarzgelben threatened to double their lead through Joey Veerman, who saw a volley take a wicked deflection and require a sharp reflex save from Nahuel Noll.
Moments later, Paderborn ought to have equalised through Laurin Curda, who could only direct Raphael Obermair’s cross against the side-netting from a promising position. Their search for a first league goal since returning to the top-flight continued, and while Dortmund had no issues getting the ball in the net again, Guirassy saw both a chip and a header chalked off for offside before the break.
Paderborn’s lack of cutting edge continued to undermine their efforts following the restart, and only another important Noll save to deny Ethan Nwaneri kept the deficit at one. Jobe Bellingham also threatened to increase the hosts’ advantage but missed the target with a header, and anxiety started to spread amongst the Yellow Wall as their team continued to lack conviction.
A moment of stellar quality ultimately quelled those fears, with Felix Nmecha exchanging a one-two with Maximilian Beier before breezing past Paderborn challenges and picking out the far corner.
Dortmund – who saw Marcel Sabitzer hit the bar late on - were far from convincing throughout, but added extra gloss to the scoreline through the imperious Nmecha, who netted an extraordinary overhead kick in the 89th minute to put the seal on a fifth successive win.
Paderborn will perhaps feel hard done by having competed well, but they’re still to score or win in the top-flight this term, with this defeat stretching their club-record Bundesliga winless run to 18 matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nahuel Noll (Paderborn)