It is a sign of how good they are, and, following those first four losses of the season, how starkly their results have improved that some of the women of 1. FC Union Berlin looked a little disappointed at the final whistle. Their 1-1 draw against TSG Hoffenheim on Sunday afternoon was their fifth league game on the bounce unbeaten, against a side who beat them twice last year. It is a sign of Union’s strength that a point gained could still feel, somehow, like two dropped.

Not that the fans minded, of course, and no-one can accuse this Union side of lacking willpower. They had already gone a goal down against Leipzig this season, and two down, twice, against Hamburg. Here, against a determined and skilful Hoffenheim, they went a goal down again. Every time they came back.

But it nearly didn’t have to be, as in front of another home crowd of over 6,000 on a chilly Sunday afternoon in Köpenick, the hosts almost took the lead within a minute of the start.  Nele Bauereisen has been in the form of her life, scoring four in her last three games. And just two minutes into this fascinating encounter she couldn’t believe she hadn’t another. Hoffenheim keeper, Laura Dick, dawdled, as if taking a moment to shake the dust off, taking in the way the grey sky blended with the red of the trees in the corner of the Alte Försterei. What she noticed all too late was Lia Kamber arriving at pace. Union’s Swiss international nipped the ball off the snoozing stopper’s toe and found Bauereisen who, despite the attentions of Vanessa Diehm, only had to roll the ball home. She, possibly taken aback by immediacy and simplicity of the chance, put it wide.

But this was emblematic of the way Union started, bubbling over with confidence. Lisanne Gräwe set up the next chance just three minutes later when she put the ball through Lisa Doorn’s legs for Kamber to strike. Though her contract was impeccable, she hit it straight at Dick, stranding tall, her chest out for the impact.

And even when Hoffenheim, themselves desperate to make up for the 8-0 loss in the cup to Wolfsburg the largest ever in professional football, attacked, Union dealt with them without fuss. Tomke Schneider came across and tackled Chiara Hahn with typical ease after she’s skipped inside of Samantha Steuerwald.

But, as with Hamburg, both times, despite their excellence, Union fell behind, as if out of the blue. This time it was Linda Natter, who drifted inside, looked up and planted a fine, powerful and pin-point strike past Nadine Böhi’s stretching dive to her right.

Stunned, Union would have the ball in the Hoffenheim net just moments later through Kamber, but she had strayed offside as she received the ball. But Things weren’t going all their own way, and Svenja Fölmli dragged her shot wide of Böhi’s back post, when she would have expected to hit the target.

Union countered again, the game already sprung into life, this time through Jill Janssens, played in from a wonderful Kamber ball over the top, her shot saved by Dick, even though it was heading wide, just to be careful. Lina Hausicke couldn’t believe she hadn’t turned the ensuing corner in from the back post as it evaded everyone in the box. It skipped off the line and away.

Hoffenheim would have more chances, particularly when Böhi saved from Hahn, springing to clutch onto the ball at the second attempt, it having bobbled out of her grasp initially, then when Diehm shot took a deflection in the box, leaving Böhi going the wrong way, but was flicked away off the line by Steuerwald. Böhi would save well from Natter on almost half an hour, getting down low to her right; she punched the corner from it over the bar confidently.

Remembering those two wild recent comebacks in the league and cup, Union were guilty of rushing things when they had the ball, trying too hard to force the game, and Gräwe, increasingly influential in the middle, said as much to Reissner and Pujols halfway through the half. Though having found her, she needn’t tell Kamber, who turned Diehm with perfect grace, dropping her shoulder, sending her the other way before playing another simple ball backwards.

Reissner attacked both Laura Gloning and Jonna Van de Velde at once, unable to burst between them, she laid it off for Gräwe who looked to bend a cross in towards the back post, but saw it claimed by Dick. She turned Gloning again on the wing, but clipped as she went, she couldn’t spark the next charge.

Pujols, having made an immediate impact since her late arrival this Summer, was showing both her defensive and attacking qualities as the half wore down. First, when Natter attacked down Union’s right, she matched her, step for step, as they sprinted towards the byline, timing her slide perfectly. Then setting up the equaliser at the other end, just a minute later. Having been played in by Janssens, Pujols whipped in her next cross, bending in, dropping from on high. Hausicke got there first, nodding calmly past the striving Dick, who hurt herself in the process.