This was Steffen Baumgart’s 150^th game in the Bundesliga as a coach. When he was twice voted Unioner of the year, back in 2003 and 2004, few would have thought that possible, least of all himself. Mind you, that this anniversary would come against Daniel Bauer, the man he made his captain at Magdeburg, was just as noteworthy, even if the arena – with its gaping empty, if well branded spaces - was not exactly the stuff dreams were made of. It wasn’t a case of the teacher and his pupil, but this was only Bauer’s sixth top flight game as the boss.

And despite Union’s 21 shots to four in a game that stretched to 105 minutes, he would end it far the happier man.

Union had the first effort of a somewhat imprecise beginning from both sides; Wooyeong Jeong’s volley flying as high over the bar as Konstantinos Koulierakis’ attempted long ball did out over the right-hand touchline. But Frederik Rönnow had to be quick to get off his line to claim the ball ahead of striker, Patrick Wimmer.

Wimmer, however, would be the first one to have a shot on target after ten minutes, and in doing so gave the hosts the lead. He picked up the ball on the left, cut inside, holding Danilho Doekhi at bay, and finished with his right foot, giving Rönnow little chance with a fine finish. It was his first goal in 18 games.

Union struggled to apply a flourish to their play as the half went on, even though they were relatively untroubled at the back. Nsoki stepped up and robbed Mohammed-Elamine Amoura; Querfeld was felled by Wimmer before taking the ball off him like candy from a baby a couple of minutes later; Amoura bounced off Querfeld like a tin can does when thrown at a wall, crumpling to the ground at his base.

But when they got closer to goal, things petered out, at least initially. Ilyas Ansah was fouled by Sael Kumbedi as he got his first taste of running towards the Wolfsburg box – he would see his drive fly wide of the right-hand upright after 28 minutes - and Trimmel’s next in a series of in-swinging free kicks was grabbed high by Kamil Grabara.

Bauer’s side were disciplined and organised, compact and, importantly, took their only occasional chances.

Indeed, they would go two up on the stroke of half an hour as Kumbedi made space down the right, cut the ball back for Amoura, who hit a fine shot into the top right corner from near the penalty spot.

Union finally reacted through Köhn, his diagonal ball put over the bar by Jeong, sliding into the six-yard-box. He would put in another, this time across goal, with minutes of the half to play, before Ansah popped up, nipping in ahead of Grabara. Jeong won a corner off Jenson Seel, then Köhn drew a good, diving stop from Grabara.

These were sparks of life, Union were rousing themselves, and they knew there was  still plenty to be  had from this game.

The double penalty scorer against Bayern, Querfeld, rose high over Yannick Gerhardt and hit a towering header that hit the bar and went over. Schäfer met Trimmel’s cross from the right, but he had already reached the peak of his jump and was on his way back down as he hit it and was unable to guide header towards goal.

Christian Eriksen (and there  are few more experienced than he) miscontrolled a backpass and had to bring down Jeong, getting a yellow card, as the two minutes of time added on were already played out. Trimmel lobbed in a final cross, but though cleared, it fell to Haberer who hit the base of the left-hand post.

Despite the scoreline, there was enough there to give Baumgart reason for hope.

The second half kicked off with the sight of a wincing Doekhi, having been caught late by Amoura, but it would take more than that to stop him. He is on a run of almost four days unbroken playing time in the Bundesliga, an astonishing mark. He shook off the pain and grimaced once again as he walked back into position.

Köhn, far more dangerous than he’d been against Heidenheim, then hit a cross first-time that looked for a moment as if it might cause Grabara problems, but it was Trimmel who would catch the eye as Wimmer thought he was through on goal. Union’s talisman, however, had other ideas, and he made up metres in the blink of an eye, timing his sliding tackle wonderfully to clear the threat.

Baumgart made his first changes with ten minutes of the half up, bringing on Oliver Burke and Andrej Ilić for Jeong and Schäfer but, before they’d barely had a chance to take breath, it was at the other end that the next threat would come. Rönnow did wonderfully to stop Amoura, staying on his feet as long  as possible as the Wolfsburg striker bore down on goal, taking  the ball away bravely at the last.

There was nothing he cold do about the host’s third, however. Nsoki slipped, ten yards inside his own half, allowing Eriksen to suddenly break. He strode into the box, cannily waiting to slip Lovro Majer, who slammed the ball in, high at the near post.

Union had no time to lick their wounds. With just over a minute gone since their third, Wolfsburg’s fourth shot on target seemed to give them a 4-0 lead as Amoura rounded Rönnow this time. Ultimately, however, he was adjudged to have been just offside.

Union would get a lifeline with just over 20 minutes to go. With Querfeld, Ansah and Majer all lying on the floor after another corner, Nsoki hit a volley into the crowd. The ball took a deflection off the outstretched leg of Koulierakis and flew in. Somehow, they still had a sniff.

Alex Král and Tom Rothe replaced Trimmel and Köhn almost immediately after the goal, and Rothe came agonisingly close with a header, having snuck in around the back for Haberer’s clipped free kick. Grabara then just managed to palm the ball away at ground level ahead of Ilić, all the ready to snaffle up any scraps coming his way.

Nsoki’s eventful Bundesliga debut was up with just over ten minutes to go, replaced by Wednesday’s other debutant, Livan Burcu. Immediately he attacked, taking a couple of touches before finding Rothe, who found Burke. The Scotsman charged into the box, battled admirably to stay on his feet, and saw his shot go out for a corner.

Union were coming closer, and thought they might get a penalty decision, almost as late as their first against Bayern last week. Doekhi had been bundled over in the box at a corner, but the game had long since carried on. But Wolfsburg were now encamped in their own half, and it took an excellent recovery from Jan Bürger to stop Rothe, having had the ball put through his legs as the Union player twisted and turned towards goal.

Again, there was drama as play stopped, and again the referee went to his screen.  This time, Koulierakis had taken Ilić’s shirt off him in the box, clear as day, and the penalty was given. As Erikssen tried to gee up the fans behind the goal, the masked Grabara sprung to his right – having surely studied the videos from Wednesday – and saved Querfeld’s low spot kick with one hand.

Union carried on attacking – there were 14 minutes added on! -  but for all their efforts, they couldn’t strike again. Burke volleyed over; Bürger flicked the ball out of Rothe’s path when ready to strike; Querfeld saw his header saved by Grabara.

But finally, after the longest of waits, the whistle went and Baumgart and Bauer exchanged a couple of words.

‘Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes today, which Wolfsburg consistently  punished. Of course, we still had good opportunities to get back into the game, especially in the second half. In the end, however, we have to keep working, even if three defeats in a week naturally hurt. But if we continue to believe in ourselves, we will win games again.’ 

"Now, so soon after the final whistle, it's obviously a bitter feeling for us as a team. We know that we conceded the three goals too easily and we need to defend better. Otherwise, we showed good character, kept up the pressure despite being behind and could have made the game a lot closer. We need to take these positive aspects with us."

"As a coach, I evaluate both the result and the performance. Looking at our performance, we played well despite conceding three goals. Nevertheless, the result is not good and we now have three games in a row in which we have not achieved what we set out to do. We have to clearly criticise that, analyse it properly and reward ourselves again next time."