It had been a decade since Union won in Heidenheim, back when Steven Skrzybski scored the second in a 2-0 win. But since then, the former Albstadion has served up only desolation for Union, and the fans had joked of its curse, as if it had been built on ancient burial ground as opposed to pretty hill in the deep south of Germany.

Still, for all that, after another bruising loss there on Saturday afternoon, they would be asking themselves if there is something in the old wives tales. While Union were looking to still ensure their safety in the league, bottom of the table Heidenheim were fighting for their lives. They deserved their win. 

The sun shone high over the low roofs of the former Albstadion, lighting up the evergreen trees in the background, plunging the terraces on one side into shadow. And the atmosphere crackled at kick off as Alex Král, making his first league start since Dortmund, back on the second game of the season, made an immediate impression, first as he intercepted Eren Dinkçi’s low ball into the Union box, then as he fed Oliver Burke up the inside right. Burke laid the ball off beautifully for Derrick Köhn, who had the first big chance of the day, still only two minutes in, but he shot over with only keeper, Diant Ramaj, to beat. 

The game was already pulsating in those early phases, with Dinkçi overhitting his cross at one end, before Köhn dragged his next shot wide of the back post following a neat passing move that went from Khedira to Ilić, to the fullback via Burke.

But it was the hosts who took the lead after their own clever piece of passing saw Dinkçi find Mathias Honsak at the near post, who side-footed his volley, left-footed, past Rönnow, just inside the right-hand upright. He had timed his run perfectly, beating the Union offside trap; there was little the Union stopper could do.

Union shook themselves down, with Doekhi lifting the ball cleverly over Honsak’s head and aiming to set Janik Haberer away up the right, but Marnon Busch came close almost immediately afterwards, picking his spot, but dragging his low shot a couple of inches wide. Andras Schäfer, launching in at him as he pulled the trigger, seemed to hurt himself in his lunge, but, wincing, he returned to his feet.

Burke’s pace was causing problems at the back for Heidenheim, but it was the pressing of his partner, Andrej Ilić, that put the hosts next under pressure, with Diogo Leite, having charged the length of the pitch, almost getting on the end of the loose ball.

The back and forth of those opening phases drifted away as Heidenheim looked to shore up their lead, and Union tried to hit them with long balls. Ilić, playing, as ever, with his back largely to goal was bundled over by Jonas Föhrenbach; he then returned the gesture to captain, Patrick Mainka, on the edge of the Heidenheim box. Burke saw yellow on the stroke of half an hour for shoving Föhrenbach away, but it seemed harsh, as he’d been grabbed by the Heidenheim player as he tried to get away to initiate a foot-race that would have only had one winner.

Heidenheim made it 2-0 on 35 minutes. If the ball went into the net from almost the same position as the first, delivered by the same player in Honsak, this time it came from that re-introduction to the modern game, the long throw. Flicked backwards by Mainka, Honsak again volleyed past Rönnow from short-range, but going the other way, he used the outside of his boot, flicking it to the keeper’s right into the middle of the goal

Full of beans, with Union now wobbling, Heidenheim came close to a third almost immediately, this time as, first, Stefan Schimmer shot wide having freed himself from Querfeld’s attentions, then as Mainka headed another Busch cross from the right wide.

The cries from the packed out away section were clear enough in their instruction, “Fight Union, fight.” But with only two minutes added on, that would have to wait for the second half. 

The second half started with the sight of Schimmer again charging at the defence of an unchanged Union, stopped in his tracks by Leite, before Union won their first corner of the half, given after Ramaj opted to try and fling a headed clearance, that didn’t work out. Ilić came close from the set-piece, but his header flicked off his marker’s shoulder.

Schimmer was a menace, and next up he beat Leite as they came shoulder-to-shoulder, with Doekhi having to come across to block his shot out for a Heidenheim corner, his hands tucked tightly behind his back, better safe than sorry. Though nothing came of it, they’d have another when Marvin Pieringer tried to dink the ball around Schäfer and into the box. Querfeld got in quickly with 55 minutes gone to head the next Busch cross away to safety; Dinkçi then almost found Schimmer with a raking, Crossfield ball that was only just overhit.

With the hour up, Baumgart made his first changes, with Tim Skarke and Tom Rothe coming on for Burke and Köhn, but still chances for them were few and far between Král danced briefly near the edge of the Heidenheim box, dragging the ball under his right foot, putting it through the legs of Schöppner with his left, but he was soon crowded out. He then was at the end of a neater move, taking a return ball off Ilić, but couldn’t find any further space to shuffle into.

Ilić finally got Union’s first effort on target after 66 minutes, his downward header stopped by Ramaj. But it was at least a sign of hope, and soon afterwards Baumgart threw his cards on the table, bringing on Ilyas Ansah and Livan Burcu for Leite and Schäfer, shifting to four at the back.

Now, with a little wind back in their sails, Union got a goal back. Rothe bustled inside, Ansah twisted and charged diagonally left, then Ilić planted a superb header goalwards, tipped over spectacularly by Ramaj. But Heidenheim couldn’t clear the corner, and with Khedira and Kral making a nuisance of themselves in the box, the ball dropped to Querfeld who swept it home, hard and rising into the roof of the net.

But such is this place, such was the fight shown by the hosts, that the euphoria didn’t last more than a couple of minutes, as Budu Zivzivadze jinked his way inside from the right and lashed an unstoppable shot past Rönnow for 3-1.

Union strived to come back, and the shot that Mainka took to the face from Rothe with ten minutes to play was brutal, borne of the frustration and the anger at the score. Were the Heidenheim player not in the way, it looked corner-bound, but he was. It summed up so much about Union’s day. Mainka would clear another Rothe cross, though this time with his boot, before the day was out. His keeper grabbed him, his skipper slapped him. For them, this meant everything, a glimmer of hope.

The silver lining to the cloud came with a little over five minutes to go, as Linus Güther replaced Král, at 16 years and three days, the youngest Union player of all time, and the second youngest in the history of the Bundesliga.

But that mattered little in the end, especially as Zivzivadze skipped inside with four minutes of time added on and buried his second, and Heidenheim’s fourth, only to be denied by the VAR after a lengthy check. It seemed a somewhat petty end to the game, but the home fans wouldn’t have cared much. While Union still aren’t quite safe yet, they aren’t quite down.