Borussia’s Andre Schuerrle (right) moves away from Leon Balogun.

Borussia Dortmund responded to Bayern Munich’s 6-0 win over Werder Bremen on Friday night by joining their title rivals on three points thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over Mainz, yesterday.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice for the hosts although Mainz deserved more for their efforts.

Dortmund were having to play counter-attacking football in their own stadium and one of those breaks saw Aubameyang denied by the fingertips of Jonas Lossl .

However, the danger did not end there, with the Gabon forward putting Dortmund in front from the resulting corner. He stole in ahead of his marker to meet Andre Schuerrle’s deep cross and head the ball back into opposite side of Lossl’s goal.

Given the soaring temperatures in Germany, a drinks break brought the action to a brief stop midway through the first half, giving both coaches the opportunity to relay instructions to their players, with Dortmund’s Thomas Tuchel the more animated of the two.

Mainz continued to create problems in the second half and former Schalke defender Christian Clemens squandered a one-on-one with Roman Burki as the Dortmund goal remained unbreached.

An 89th-minute penalty converted by Aubameyang finally appeared to settle Dortmund’s nerves as they took a 2-0 lead.

Mainz, however, pulled a goal back soon after when Yoshinori Muto raced in to head home, but last season’s runners-up Dortmund held on to victory.

Elsewhere, Hamburg were denied  victory over Ingolstadt with the Bavarians hitting back late on for a 1-1 draw.

Bobby Wood scored his first Bundesliga goal after half an hour when he latched on to a long ball from Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler, held off his marker and drilled a low shot past Orjan Nyland.

Ingolstadt equalised with 10 minutes remaining, thanks to a gift from Hamburg defender Cleber. He returned Lukas Hinterseer’s cross right back to the Ingolstadt player, who just had to react quickly to turn the ball into an open goal.

Wolfsburg took the first step in putting a disappointing 2015/16 campaign behind them with a 2-0 win at Augsburg.

Daniel Didavi opened his Wolfsburg account to put the visitors in front with their first real chance of the game.

A Ricardo Rodriguez free-kick sealed the Wolves’ win with two minutes left.

Bundesliga
Augsburg vs Wolfsburg - 0-2
Bor. Dortmund vs Mainz - 2-1
E. Frankfurt vs Schalke - 1-0    
Cologne vs Darmstadt - 2-0
Hamburg vs Ingolstadt - 1-1
B. M’gladbach vs B. Leverkusen - 2-1

Playing today
Hertha Berlin vs Freiburg - 15.30
Hoffenheim vs Leipzig - 17.30