Stoppage-time penalty keeps Dortmund in the hunt
Emre Can's last-gasp penalty saw Borussia Dortmund edge to a 3-2 victory over St Pauli, keeping some pressure on Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich.
Niko Kovac's side seemed set to rue a missed chance after throwing away a two-goal lead, but Can's 95th-minute spot-kick moved it to within eight points of Bayern, which was to visit RB Leipzig later in the day.
St Pauli thought it had a 19th-minute penalty of its own, only for the video assistant referee (VAR) to intervene and overturn an on-field call for handball against Dortmund striker Fabio Silva.
Gregor Kobel then smothered Mathias Pereira's close-range effort before Dortmund made its chance count at the other end.
Silva initially missed the ball from Karim Adeyemi's, but Julian Brandt was on hand for a simple tap-in to send the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Adeyemi doubled Dortmund's lead early in the second half, steering Silva's selfless pass into an unguarded net, but the hosts soon fell apart.
James Sands outjumped Can to head home Eric Smith's corner in the 62nd minute, before St Pauli's captain provided his second assist when he teed up substitute Ricky-Jade Jones to volley the Bundesliga's bottom club level 10 minutes later.
But Dortmund had the last laugh as Jones felled Maximilian Beier, with Can keeping his cool in the dying seconds to save Kovac's team.
"As so often this season, it was a rollercoaster ride. We need to play much better. We conceded two goals from set pieces. That shouldn't happen to us," Can said after claiming his last gasp winner.
"We've said that many times this season. I hope we learn from it. But in the end, we won. That's the most important thing in football.
"What could be better than scoring a goal in the last minute, in our stadium, and then experiencing the emotions here? It's indescribable."
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac added: "We missed the chance to keep our foot on the gas. The fact that it got tense again was down to us.
"The fact that we pulled it off in the end shows that the team believes until the very end and can make things right in added time. The victory was very important for us."
Dortmund is now unbeaten in 11 Bundesliga matches, but it is 11 points behind leader Bayern Munich, which thrashed RB Leipzig 5-1 with a second-half blitz after being 1-0 down at half-time.
