1. FC Union Berlin lost 2-0 at home to FC Augsburg on Wednesday evening. In Steffen Baumgart’s home debut as head coach, Alexis Claude-Maurice’s brace would prove decisive.

1. FC Union Berlin: Schwolow – Trimmel, Doekhi, Vogt (46. Leite), Roussillon (62. Skov) – Tousart (69. Ilic), Khedira, Kemlein (46. Bénes) – Jeong (59. Skarke), Jordan, Hollerbach 

FC Augsburg: Dahmen – Matsima (75. Banks), Gouweleeuw, Bauer – Koudossou (69. Wolf), Jakic, Giannoulis – Onyeka, Rexhbecaj (60. Maier) – Claude-Maurice (75. Kömür), Essende (60. Tietz) 

The starting XI

Steffen Baumgart made four changes to the side which started in last week’s defeat away to Kiel. Alexander Schwolow continued in goal, whilst the back four consisted of Jérôme Roussillon, making his first start of the season, as he replaced the suspended Tom Rothe, Kevin Vogt returned to the side replacing Diogo Leite, Danilho Doekhi and Christopher Trimmel.

In midfield, Rani Khedira came back into the side for Janik Haberer, alongside Lucas Tousart (replacing Robert Skov) and Aljoscha Kemlein.

Wooyeong Jeong and Benedict Hollerbach featured out wide with the aim of supporting Jordan Siebatcheu up-front.

Attendance: 21.560 

Goals: 0-1 Claude-Maurice (9.), 0-2 Claude-Maurice (30.)

Claude-Maurice’s early double puts Union into a state of disarray

Steffen Baumgart's first game as head coach at the club which he adores was to be far from the glorious return that most here in Köpenick had hoped for. As Jordan’s shot cannoned off the top of the crossbar at the beginning of the second half, it was clear that it was simply not meant to be.

It was not for a lack of effort. The first thing which the massed ranks witnessed was Jordan, baring down on Finn Dahmen in the Augsburg goal with rapid intent. He forced the keeper into a snap clearance, even if he had more time than it appeared, it was a sign of the striker’s desperation to break his duck.

Yet, if that provided a brief cheer from the crowd, the sight of Danilho Doekhi dropping down, getting up as Augsburg threatened to break away, before collapsing back to his knees was certainly a cause for concern. He had clashed heads going up for (and winning) a 50-50 challenge with Samuel Essende. Doekhi however would play the rest of the game with a tightly wrapped red bandage strapped around his head, the Augsburg number nine with his eyebrow now taped. Not that would stop either going for every aerial ball as the half went on.

Union started particularly quickly, looking to use the width of the pitch to their advantage. Rani Khedira, who was often seen almost playing as a third centre-half in the opening passages, driving one ball cross-field for Roussillon on the left-hand side, while Tousart hit the next one the other way towards Hollerbach, resulting in a corner.

However, it was Augsburg who had the first shot on goal, as Essende cut inside from the left with the ball on the edge of his foot. He opted to pick out the near post, but Alexander Schwolow was equal to it.

Augsburg came onto Union once again, and before ten minutes had been played, took the lead. As chaos suddenly reigned in the Union box, the guests attacked down the right-hand side, this time through Ogochukwu Onyeka. His cross was cleared up into the air by Khedira, but only as far as Alexis Claude-Maurice, who fired his volley with purpose into the roof of the net, the ball continually rising all the way.

Union tried to propel themselves back into the game. Jordan flicked his next header wide from Wooyeong Jeong’s testing cross from the left-hand side, having been supplied by the overlapping Roussillon.

Jordan was then involved at the other end, as he blocked Onyeka’s low drive. Schwolow managed to carefully claim the spinning ball before it went out for a corner.

The game swung back-and-forth wildly, and it took a superbly timed lunge from Chrislain Matsima to stop Hollerbach in full-flow when slid away by a delicious Jeong through-ball. Unfortunately, the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the right-hand post.

Kämpfe Union, Kämpfe, roared out of the Waldseite, and Roussillon took it on, having already taken a boot to the face from Essende, then refusing to bow to Henri Koudossou, as they tussled with one another on the Union byline.

They all were fighting. Tousart was haring into challenges in midfield, looking to fire the ball through the middle each time. Kemlein flicked the ball behind himself into the path of Jordan; Jeffrey Gouweleeuw caught Hollerbach outside the box, but the referee, Frank Willenborg, waved play on.

With 28 minutes played, Union were once again caught out by a cross from the right-hand side, this time from Gouweleeuw, having jinked his way into position. He pulled the ball back across goal to the on-rushing Claude-Maurice, who was suddenly all alone near the penalty spot. He stroked the ball past a helpless Schwolow to make it 2-0.

Nothing appeared to be working for Union as the half wore on. Vogt blasted a ball out of touch, one which he’d usually land onto the foot of a teammate. Jeong, Roussillon and Khedira combined to play their way out of trouble, but Khedira’s next pass fell short. Kemlein, clearing, could only pick out Claude-Maurice. Tousart tried to pick out Hollerbach, but Elvis Rexhbecaj was stationed in between them and came away with the ball.

Jordan cleared one into row z of the main stand. Doekhi intercepted another from the left-hand side with a slide, conceding a corner before outpacing Claude-Maurice back towards his own goal to comfortably knock the ball back to Schwolow.

Baumgart, prowling the touchline in jeans, a black coat and baseball cap checked his watch as 45 minutes were played out. He clapped his players off the pitch at the break, one-by-one. He knew that they had a difficult task ahead of them.

Jordan wallops the crossbar early on, but Augsburg remain in the driving seat

Baumgart decided to change things at the break, bringing Diogo Leite on for Vogt and Laszlo Bénes on for Kemlein.

Immediately, following Yeong’s darting run down the left-hand side, Union came as close to scoring as possible, but Jordan, having struck the ball superbly from just outside of the box, somehow saw the ball whistle against the crossbar up and away again. Sometimes, a striker just needs a bit of luck to go his way. The dice was just not falling for him, despite all his efforts. He had also seen one cannon off the upright last weekend against Heidenheim. What more could he do?

Rexhbecaj whipped a low cross through the Union box, evading everyone, before Hollerbach played a delightful ball out to Khedira in the inside-right channel. His cross was both low and powerful, but Dahmen managed to get down to his near post just before Jordan could nip in to get that much needed magical touch.

Tim Skarke and Andre Ilic were already lined up, desperately waiting to come on, as Union pushed forward in search of a breakthrough, even as Rexhbecaj suddenly appeared in one of the gaps left, placing his shot too close to Schwolow. Play carried on and on, long enough for Baumgart to change his mind, sending only the former. Roussillon would be the next to go off, changed for Robert Skov a few moments later.

Union would not give up the fight, flooding men forwards; Skov taking Hollerbach’s ball into a dead end, before chasing it all the way back to the half-way line; Tousart then sent a looping header straight into the hands of Dahmen from Skarke’s cross.

With just over twenty minutes remaining on the clock, Ilic finally got his chance, replacing Lucas Tousart, immediately making his first impression when he clipped a decent ball into the middle which Gouweleeuw managed to scoop away. Skov then blasted his effort well over the bar in the 72^nd minute, his balance both off and suddenly cramped on the ball.

Hollerbach was constantly offering an option, and was brought down with a crack by Onyeka after Khedira played him through down the middle. His first touch was a delight, later winning a corner after refusing to be bullied off the ball. Ilic placed a header wide of the mark, when rising in the box to meet the Union vice-captain’s deep in-swinging cross into the box. Doekhi then almost forced Dahmen into a mistake when challenging him for Skarke’s stratospheric cross, but once again, the Augsburg keeper managed to claim it at the second attempt, on the floor, scrabbling at the feet of Union’s defender.

“We didn't implement what we set out to do in the first half,” was Khedira’s assessment. “In the second half, we didn’t use our chances. We must get back to our basics, work on them every day, and then I'm convinced that we'll get points again.”

Captain, Trimmel, too, was sure that the next win wasn’t too far away. “We concede a bit too easily,” he said. “We did it better in the second half. We do get our chances, but we must be more active in the final third. It's not much, I'm sure of that.”

In the end, the Waldseite was a sea of flags, a thousand voices singing the name of their club to the tune of ‘Amazing Grace’. They’ve certainly been through tougher times than this, some of them with their new boss as a player.

With the third minute of time added on, Ilic sharply turned onto Skarke’s clever pass, freeing himself up to shoot, but once more, it flew wide of the back post. It just about summed up Union’s evening.

“It's obviously frustrating that we couldn't take our chances,” said Baumgart at the end. “That shouldn't happen to us, but it did today. We now want to work on that, find solutions and get back on the right track.”