A strong wind was blowing over the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Monday night, as the women of 1. FC Union Berlin strode out for their first ever Bundesliga away game. If they were becalmed by the relative humility of the stadium and the size of the crowd, they were soon to be in no doubt about the scale of the sporting task facing them.

Their start was disastrous. Almost from the off they were chasing shadows, clinging on for dear life. Their passes wouldn’t land, their solidity and organisation seemed suddenly blown away by the gale surging across the pitch. They made mistakes, so uncharacteristic of this most disciplined of sides.

But Leverkusen are also good. They finished fourth last year and want to improve on that. It would take a superb stop from Cara Bösl to stop the hosts only a minute after kick off, as Valentina Mädl, a last-minute replacement for Cornelia Kramer, crashed her shot on goal, but the stopper stuck a hand up just in time and parried the ball up and away.

But Union wouldn’t heed their warning and a minute later Bayer threatened again, this time down the inside-left. If her last save had demonstrated the strongest of wrists and the sharpest of reflexes, this time Bösl would spill Vanessa Fudalla’s weaker shot from range, somehow turning away from the ball and letting it slip though her grasp. Bösl has Bundesliga experience. She admonished herself under her breath on the way up

It was 2-0, through Mädl with five minutes gone, this time after Steuerwald’s weak pass out went straight to a player in black. Fed easily, Mädl took a touch and shot with her left, across Bösl. She had no chance this time, it was too precise and rolled in.

Pressed back regularly into their own half, Union saw their own threats dropping deeper; Sophie Weidauer popped up almost at right-back, Naika Reissner pressed Estrella Merino Gonzalez all the way back up the line. They finally got a shot on goal after 15 minutes when Tanja Pawollek squeezed one off after Weidauer’s good work, inside right.

It was as if they were having to drag themselves into the fight. And as the half wore on, Union improved. Bösl took a cross high above her head on the fly. Dina Orschmann almost slipped Weidauer away up the middle, trying to thread a needle with the ball. After 25 minutes, Steuerwald read a clever pass through to Mädl perfectly, and closed off the sudden danger.

Reissner barrelled forwards past Merino Gonzales, her teeth gritted, the ground disappearing below her before Tomke Schneider repeated her charge, almost step for step. You could see their confidence reappearing; their shoulders coming back, their heads lifting.

Then came the breakthrough. Lisa Heiseler drifted out to the left from where she hit a tempting cross in at ankle height, into the box, where Orschmann had just got in ahead of her marker, Lilia Turanyi. Orschmann flicked it artfully, cleverly across Frederike Repohl in the Bayer goal, and inside the back post. 2-1.

Suddenly the guests were sharper in the tackle, quicker to the loose balls. The superb Schneider left Ruby Grant stood still before bending an unexpected shot with her right foot in towards the near post, catching Repohl off guard, and leaving Campbell inches away from being able to turn in the rebound.

From the other side, having  been played in by Steinert, Orschmann crashed a shot with her right that looked destined for the top corner, and was only clawed away by Repohl desperately, two-handed - like she was shooing away bird, the ball  dropping on the line and the keeper taking a knee to the  head from Mädl for her troubles.

With the three minutes added on winding down, and Leverkusen finally finding a little more control, Anna Aehling made a fantastic sliding stop on Grant, almost the match of that which she flew into on Selma Licina last week.

Though a goal down at the break, the guests could be delighted with their reaction at least.

Union started the second half, as if wary of the mistakes they had made in the first, and as Turanyi brought Orschmann’s testing clipped pass up the line back towards goal, it was notable that the guests in light blue had already retreated into position, and only Weidauer was in the opposition’s half. They were prepared to be patient.

Campbell made a fine tackle, now almost as a left-back, before calmly rolling the  ball cross-field to Aehling. Reissner, with her back to goal, flicked a pass up field to Orschmann, but held her position. Bösl did enough to just get a touch when Mädl suddenly looked, a high cross swinging towards them both. Sofie Zdebel clattered Reissner, leaving the winger in agony on the ground and Heiseler having to deal with the loose ball.

Leverkusen, too, though were being patient, knowing that they had their own secret – and not so – weapons still to be shown. With an hour gone they had restored their two-goal advantage when Carlotta Wamser whipped a superb, finish from the edge of the box, bending past Bösl. It was a superb finish. 

Union, however, were almost straight back into things as Schneider found the space to put a wonderful pass on a plate for Weidauer. Union’s striker made it to the ball just ahead of Repohl, but the post stopped her shot, as the keeper left her crashing to the floor, landing awkwardly, painfully on her shoulder. It looked bad, and she was led off the pitch, gingerly holding it, but she was soon back on.

Poese made her first changes with a little over 20 minutes to play, bringing Anna Weiß and Nele Bauereisen on for Steinert and Reissner, like for like, with the latter taking to the left. But with Campbell again trying her best to spur another attack from deep, and Antonia Halverkamps replacing a wincing Weidauer, the weather took another turn, the wind rearing up, the rain pouring now pouring down.

But just as things seemed to be drifting away in the face of that vicious wind, Union had a final sortie. Tomke Schneider got on the end of a corner just outside the six-yard box, flying, she stabbed the ball goalwards where Repohl panicked and Julia Mickenhagen swung her boot tried connecting, but apparently, just too late. Whether it crossed the line will remain a moot point, but what is certain is that it was given as a goal for Union.

There were seven minutes added on, and with the endless songs of the astonishing Union fans at their back, they were refusing to even countenance giving up. When Kristin Kögel thought she had a throw in, Steuerwald took the ball off her immediately like a bigger kid on the playground.  No chance, she said. It’s mine. When Pawollek was bundled off the ball  she had to be pushed away from the referee by Halverkamps.

Before the whistle finally came, Weiß still had time to crash a volley towards goal, but it was cleared off the line by Claudia Wenger. They had given everything.

Their time will come yet.