English teenager Jadon Sancho netted either side of halftime as Dortmund were heading for a seventh straight win in all competitions until Salomon Kalou converted a 91st-minute penalty to share the points at Signal Iduna Park.

“If you look at the way the game went, it definitely feels like a defeat. It feels like we lost the two points,” admitted Götze, whose superb final pass set up Sancho for Dortmund’s opening goal on 27 minutes.

“Of course, we didn’t finish the chances we had in the second half.”

“We work as a team, but for the first time it didn’t work and we weren’t efficient with our chances.”

Dortmund were punished for living dangerously late on when defender Dan-Axel Zagadou brought down Hertha forward Davie Selke in the area for the spot-kick which Kalou converted.

“We had planned something special, but the bravery was missing to see it through,” said Hertha coach Pál Dárdai.

“The first 20 minutes weren’t okay,” he added. “But things were better after we conceded the first goal.”

“We invested a lot and definitely wanted the point, so you can say it was deserved.”

With Bayern Munich now just two points behind in second place, Dortmund’s next home league match – against Munich in a fortnight – is shaping up to be a top-of-the-table showdown.