The last time Union had played at the Millerntor, the players, led by Christopher Trimmel, found themselves in front of the travelling fans, explaining a 3-0 loss, trying to assuage their worries of relegation.

Here, however, things couldn’t have looked more different this time. Celebrating  a superb 1-0 win on a freezing night in Hamburg, with coats already zipped up high, they bounced together, arm in arm, the block pogo-ing in unison, all united in crashing waves of celebration. All the fun of the iconic fair, as seen through the corner behind the scoreboard, had crept into the opposite end.

But as the brutal, bitter wind whipped around the stands, the game started with the strange, awkward stillness of the immaculate 12-minute silence, directed at the governments proposed new security measures targeting all football fans - practiced across every game – took hold. The usual full-throated cries became yelps. Shushing replaced whistling.

Despite it all, Pauli tried to get on the front foot early, but in their way stood Danilho Doekhi, first crashing into Mathias Pereira Lage, then holding Andras Hountondji at bay, brushing him aside near the left-hand touchline. They carved out the first real opening, too, when Eric smith clipped a ball across for Hountondji, but he couldn’t rise high enough in the box to get his head to the ball.

The volume - or more precisely, the lack of it- seemed to affect the players too, and it was a curiously calm opening from both sides. Leopold Querfeld hit a long ball up for Tom Rothe, who controlled it out on the left, lifting it over the head of Arkadiusz Pyrka; Querfeld then came across to tackle Hountondji immaculately before he could bring  a sharp diagonal under his control.

Unions first threat came after the silence had broken, when Trimmel launched a long throw into the box that Nikola Vasilj, in goal for Pauli, had to leap at horizontally, punching clear ahead of the looming Andrej Ilić, still searching for his first goal of the season. The striker had spoken of this already, though. He was happy  as long as someone scored the goals, and he was typically selfless up front. 

For all their possession, Pauli were struggling to find a way through Union’s superbly organised ranks. Rani Khedira robbed one ball on the halfway line; Querfeld stepped up to claim the next. When Mathias Pereira Lage found himself running onto the ball in space down the left, the excellent, diligent Querfeld was again in the right place at the right time to head away his cross. With 22 minutes gone Pyrka tried to slide one into Hountondji, but again Querfeld was there to take it away and ruin the opportunity. He did it again, almost identically, if a little more advanced after 23 minutes, too. He was everywhere.

With a break in play halfway through the half, Kemlein was at the bench, getting detailed instructions from Sebastian Bönig. He came back into the middle, passing on the news to Ilyas Ansah and Ilić. Keep calm, he seemed to be saying. Union were going to be patient, their chances would come.

Indeed, one did as Burke won a corner on the right, taken by Trimmel, but headed too close to Vasilj by Rothe, but as soon as the danger passed, Pereira Lage would flash a  header just wide at the other end. He shook his head, knowing he should probably have done better. When Hountondji robbed that rarest of things, a moment of Doekhi hesitation, Frederik Rönnow was quickly off his line to sweep up.

Joel Chima Fujita got yellow card with 38 minutes gone, coming in late on Ansah in the centre-circle, and the free kick was taken quickly, ultimately finding Ilić who stung Vasilj’s palms with his shot. Rothe then came close, barrelling in to meet his header.

Union’s pressure told eventually with three minutes remaining of the half.

The ball came in from the left, when it fell to Rani Khedira. Having cracked one with his left that came back off Ilić, he got a second chance, this time with the other foot; his stronger one. 

He would say later that his daughter had told him on the phone that he'd score today, and, accordingly, he got his second in the league, and third overall this season, with a precise shot, across goal. It flew through the crowd. He roared away, joined by all his teammates, bar Rönnow. She couldn't have been more right. 

The Union players were out early, unchanged; Khedira in short sleeves dancing from toe to toe in the centre circle to keep the blood flowing. He was in the book a minute later for jostling Chima Fujita, nipping at his heels as the diminutive midfielder spun in circles ahead of him.

Pauli won two corners in arow, the first as Hauke Wahl tried to beat Leite down the left, the second straight after when Querfeld headed the set-piece away. But though they strived to carve out a credible opening, everything the hosts did was just as easily repelled by the indomitable Union back-line, with Ansah joining in the dog-work at the back alongside Rothe on the left, and Leite winning header after header in the box.

Union’s plan remained as clear as before, and it was close to paying off as Ilić nodded a steepling ball down, just an ich too far from Burke, who looked set to hit the afterburners, half a pitch empty ahead of him.

Chima Fujita shot from 25 yards, but he put it too close to Rönnow to really trouble the Union stopper. He held it easily, diving to his right. When Hountondji looked to cross, inevitably Querfeld was there to block it out for a corner.

Wahl then finally got around the back, but he too planted his header to close to Rönnow. Substitute Abdoulie Ceesay ran into what he thought was space, but it just turned out to be another dead end.

With 65 minutes played, Baumgart made his first change as Alex Kral replaced Ilić.

Pyrka then looked to cross after Ceesay’s lovely turn had created the space, but again Querfeld was there, sliding into his clearance this time, as if to keep himself interested.

At the other end, Burke looked surprised to find himself suddenly free in front of goal, and Vasilj did well to stand up and block his effort. This was the cue for Baumgart to make three further substitutions, Kemlein, Rothe and Burke coming off for Wooyeong Jeong, Derrick Köhn and Janik Haberer. Köhn went out left, Haberer, celebrating his 250^th Bundesliga appearance, slotted into the middle.

Pauli were starting to make the most of their possession,  and before the new players could even get warm, Union had a let off. Danel Sinani found Pereira Lage, who shot across goal, only to see the ball cannon agonisingly off the right hand post and roll away to safety.

With Tim Skarke on for Ansah, Pauli continued their pressure, and Trimmel headed a dangerous corner behind him and out for another corner with little over five minutes to play. And whatever his defenders could do, so could Rönnow. He punched clear the resulting corner; dominating his box, he would claim another looping shot easily shortly afterwards.

With five minutes added on, Tim Skarke - having just cleared from outside his own box, somehow up and over his own goal - hit a wicked drive inches wide of the post. The time dragged by for the Union fans, as Pauli launched ball after ball towards Rönnow’s goal, but still they couldn’t find a way through. Leite headed clear twice more, Querfeld was battered by Ceesay as they went for the same arial ball.

Skarke finally won a corner at the other end; Köhn strolled over to take it  as if it was a walk in the park, and then the whistle finally blew.

The scene was set for the great celebration. Union were up to eight; it really couldn’t have been further removed from the last time. 

‘Today, we set out to defend with concentration from start to finish, to remain alert to the opposition's set pieces and to be dangerous from our ownones. Both teams defended very well – and yes, we certainly had a bit of luck, but we worked hard for it,’ 

"I spoke to my daughter on the phone this morning and she told me that I would score a goal today. It's all the better that it actually happened. When you look at the crazy, happy faces in the stands – those pure emotions – that's what makes football so special. But in the end, it's the three points that count, and we're very happy about it."

"The team made very few mistakes today, which is hugely important in a sport like football where mistakes are prone to happen, and we were rewarded for that in the end. In the second half, we defended with great concentration and the post helped us once. Ultimately, we got three points in a difficult away game. We want to build on that and carry this positive mood with us."