There had been so much talk in the build-up to this game, all Marie-Louise Eta wanted was for it to fall by the wayside, as she made clear during her over-subscribed, internationally-attended press conference on Thursday. She knew she was now a role model; she understood that the waves cause by her appointment were garnering attention that has almost never accompanied this club, but she is a football coach first and foremost. She just couldn’t wait for the game.

Yet, following Oliver Burke’s fine finish to make it 2-1, as she watched her team throw everything at a reeling Wolfsburg side, hanging on to their slender lead, she would have been forgiven for thinking that there wasn’t much more than any of them could have done.

Still, few appointees have ever received such unanimous backing from the Union faithful as she has this past week. At the final whistle, the whole stadium stayed, despite the loss, just as when Christian Arbeit read her name out before kick off, they bellowed back as one, a spine-tingling Fußballgöttin!

Of course, Union had never lost at home to Wolfsburg, til today, but after the fuss had died down and the players stood ready for kick off, the excitement was palpable all around.

But for all its portents, it couldn’t be forgotten that the guests were here fighting for their Bundesliga lives. They would battle and fight with tooth and nail, to defend their two superb goals, both from distance, both outliers. The tension could be seen down on the pitch at kick off, too, as the ball flew one way and then the next. Danilho Doekhi won a header from one steepling Wolfsburg ball, Querfeld the next. Rönnow held Joakim Maehle’s cross with ease above his head, too. Burke won a tackle, having dropped back to the centre-circle, then laid a ball off for Tom Rothe, having turned his back on the defenders ahead of him.

Diogo Leite motioned to Rothe to keep things calm, but with five minutes gone, neither side were risking too much. Union’s first corner came when Christopher Trimmel found Burke, his first touch immaculate, and the first effort on target came from the ensuing set-piece, if Doekhi couldn’t get enough power on his header from near the penalty spot.

But it wasn’t all to be the fairytale many had wished for, and Wolfsburg took the lead when Patrick Wimmer skipped into space and beat Rönnow with a fine strike, hit with the outside of his boot after only ten minutes.

Union countered, back up the other end, with Ansah and Kemlein trying their hardest to get the ball out from under their feet as Jeanuël Belocian and Maehle nipped at their toes in the box. Ansah then drew an excellent stop from Kamil Grabara, springing to his left, after Querfeld had headed down Trimmel’s free kick. Doekhi then flashed a header over the bar after Rothe had bent in a cross with his left. Ansah headed another cross, at chest height, wide. Ansah headed another cross, at chest height, wide. Eta had said that they lacked a little self-confidence, but whether that played a role is hard to say. Certainly, luck wasn't on their side.

At the other end, Rönnow got down well to his right to stop Christian Eriksen’s low volley towards the left-hand upright.

Union’s attacks started to grow in regularity. Belocian was holding Andrej Ilić so tightly, it looked like he was trying to haul him backwards out of a burning building. Still Wolfsburg won two corners in succession, both cleared by Rothe, one with the head, the other with his boot, belting the ball over the halfway line.

The game still struggled to get going, it was stopping and starting, stopping and starting, Rothe thought he’d won a corner, seeing the ball go out off Maehle, but it was given the other way. Leite was bundled over by Pejcinovic. After half an hour, Khedira let fly, his wicked strike from 25 yards, flying inches over.

A few minutes later, Mohammed Amoura was set free, but Querfeld shrugged the quicker man off, though he went down immediately, claiming that the centre-back had flicked an elbow at him as they went for the stray ball. Referee, Florian Badstübner, was having none of it though, dismissing all claims for a free kick immediately.

Rönnow saved brilliantly from, Aaron Zehnter, who opted to shoot from an angle, hard and rising towards goal. Rothe flashed a volley over at the other end waiting for the ball to drop almost vertically down to him inside the Wolfsburg 18-yard box. Doekhi’s next header, from Trimmel’s next corner, flew wide, too. Ansah won another with 44 minutes gone, as he suddenly found a gap to run into. He dragged his shot from the resulting melee, wide of the right-hand post, but not by far.

The sun now shining beautifully upon the Alte Försterei couldn’t help the Unioner’s hopes, not to mention their nerves, as Wolfsburg scored their second, just moments after kick off for the second half, the team having come out unchanged from the break. The ball fell for Pejčinović, who cut inside and planted a superb effort, bending low, past Rönnow and inside the back post.

Union would do everything other than turn the ball in the net. Ansah went close, having jinked his way first backwards across the edge of the box; his near post shot was palmed away by a flying Grabara. Though the corner came to nothing, they had another go after Trimmel tried a variation from a free kick, just outside the box, out to the right. He hit it low, through the crowd, but somehow, Doekhi’s couldn’t turn it in.

Wolfsburg were retreating ever deeper as the half wore on, protecting that lead, and the chance it gave them in the table. Ilić came even closer, when he sprung to head Trimmel’s cross in, but this time it came back off the post and rolled agonisingly away. The Alte Försterei was now a boiling torrent of noise, with Union pushing everyone forwards in search of a way back into this game. Leite then won a corner, appearing in the box to pick up Rothe’s pass after an excellent bit of play out on the wing.

Eta made her first changes after 65 minutes, with Tim Skarke and Derrick Köhn replacing Ansah and Rothe, but the next opening came when Khedira found the lightning Burke, who saw the ball taken off him just as he was about to pull the trigger. Skarke took just too long on the ball when Leite found him; Konstantinos Koulierakis got in ahead of Ilić when both went up for Skarke’s cross.

The new boss’s next change came as Andras Schäfer replaced Kemlein in the middle. He was quickly involved, flicking a header away from danger out to Köhn. He then had to chase the substitute Adam Daghin, halfway the length of the pitch as the guests suddenly broke at an Union corner, all in red and white still up in the Wolfsburg half.

With ten minutes remaining, still Union poured forwards, but nothing was falling their way, and every block, every tackle, every lunge by the guests was celebrated furiously as the clock ticked down; as Trimmel’s long range belter smashed into Zehnter, as Schäfer’s own drive flew wide.

Before Eta could make her two final changes - Janik Haberer and Livan Burcu for Trimmel and Khedira - her side were back in it. Or at least so they thought. Ilic slipped a beautiful ball up the middle, weighted just right for the flying Burke who was never going to lose a foot-race against Koulierakis. He took a touch and beat Grabara, unerringly. It was a fine finish, with five minutes to play.

The stadium, now electric, roared once more as Burke burst down the left, his cut back not quite finished by Ilić. There were five minutes added on to play, and Union threw everything they had at a reeling Wolfsburg. Burcu won a corner on the left, and even Rönnow appeared in the opposition box. In the chaos that came next, Grabara stuck a leg out impossibly to deny Doekhi. Köhn was sure his shot struck a hand shortly after. Ilić’s bicycle kick went into another defender, then a final corner came in, with Rönnow again up for it. But they just couldn’t get it over the line.

If the result was tough, the statistics were overwhelmingly in the host’s favour. 2.09 xG to 0.19. 25 shots to five. Football can be the cruellest of games. Eta knows all this, of course. She had her wish, to get back to football. Now, hopefully, a little of the dust will settle and the many positives can be taken from this loss. She will already have her sights set on Leipzig next week.

“Everyone knows how tight it is at the bottom of the table. We could have really done with a point today. A 26-5 shot count speaks volumes. Ultimately, we conceded two goals – that was far too easy for the opposition, and we need to put a stop to that. I think the most important thing was how we performed today. We have a new manager and new tactics and objectives to implement. That’s not so easy either, but I think, all things considered, we did well."

“As you saw, we gave it our all. We tried to make it 1-1 before half-time and 2-2 at the end. When you go out onto the pitch after half-time and concede a goal so quickly, that’s unfortunate. We’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen next time and that we simply get back into the game and score goals."

“I’m naturally disappointed that we lost this match. The lads had set their sights high and implemented many things well. We created plenty of chances today, but in the end, it was always the little things that were missing. Overall, you could say that the result doesn’t really reflect the game.”