Under a glorious blue sky, with a stiff wind and the tops of the Ruhrstadion’s Lego-like floodlights visible over the bowing and bending tops of the trees, history beckoned for the women of 1. FC Union Berlin.

After the full time whistle they danced in the middle of the pitch, waltzing in great joyous circles, bouncing, spinning as one; delirious versions of the planets around the Sun. “Hey, hey,” they sung. “Spitzenreiter, Spitzenreiter!”

Union are top of the league with a game to go, but they knew in advance they would have to be patient. There were times during this win when it seemed far from a fait accompli. Bochum were never going to roll over, even though they had little more to play for this season than pride.

For that, against Union, with the recent history between these sides, was more than enough. 

But with the sound of the indefatigable away fans – another huge cause of pride for the club this season - buoying them, relaxing them, supporting them, they started accordingly, patiently, stroking the ball about at the back between Cara Bösl, Tomke Schneider and Anna Weiß. Athanasia Moraitou had the first shot on goal, whipping a free kick in towards goal from 25 yards out on the left; though at head height, it was a comfortable enough save for Kari Närdemann in Bochum’s goal to hold onto.

So far, so placid. But then it was if a fuse was lit, as if there was no more waiting for destiny to come their way. Union raced into the lead.

And who else could open the scoring but the captain? Lisa Heiseler extended her lead at the top of the charts after five minutes when she burst through the middle, finishing past Närdemann, as cool as you like. Union’s captain is having the season of her life; that was goal number 18, but though a superb, instinctive finish, she would top it in some style later on.

Barely had the celebrations ended when it was two. Judith Steinert had never scored for the club she joined in the summer, but as the ball careered around the box, crashing off scattered limbs, she arrived at just the right time inside the six-yard box to poke it over the line.

It had been 93 seconds between the goals. Union were now already in complete control, and with quarter of an hour played, and Anna Weiß tested Närdemann with a high ball from the right having defied the pace on the ball to reach it and cross before it crossed the byline. Tomke Schneider stopped Anna-Luisa Figueira Marques with an excellent tackle, going to ground, using the perfect mix of timing and strength; Weiß then made another excellent intervention, moving the ball on swiftly to Antonia Halverkamps who then found Dina Orschmann before Närdemann held Heiseler’s low drive after another bustling, barrelling run into the box.

Bochum rallied as the half went on, or at least stabilised their ship, but Marie Becker and Schneider proved an impenetrable barrier in the middle, while Weiß and Steinert were always back in position after another of their forays forwards to sniff out any danger from the flanks. The pair covered miles, however, and Steinert, the wind in her sails, sent a 25 yarder wide after half an hour.

They would have been forgiven for letting their heads drop, but Bochum pushed and probed. It is to their great credit how they dragged themselves back into a game that seemed so over, so early. First, as Marques turned and hit a wicked shot goalwards towards the end of the half, Cara Bösl somehow flung herself to her left, tipping the ball wide of the post with her fingertips. Then Mara Kanoglu broke through, as she flashed an unstoppable shot inside the far post with her right.

Suddenly the Union fans’ thoughts went back to last weekend, and the two-goal lead against Freiburg that had been so suddenly turned around. Maybe it hit the players, too. Halverkamps hit the post before Moraitou tried to banish them with the last kick of the half with a wicked, dipping, swerving drive from the left, but as the ball flew wide the whistle for the break went.

Ailien Poese swapped out Celine Frank for Nele Bauereisen at the break, with Moraitou dropping back to the holding role, and the new player was immediately involved, sweeping a clever pass out right for Halverkamps to run onto. Halverkamps was next up to create something after a jinking run up the right wing, but again Union were unable to take advantage of her dangerous cross, as Heiseler cracked her first-time shot over the bar.

Then, the worst happened. With barely ten minutes played of the half Bochum were level. Amelie Fölsing launched a corner on the right, Alessandra Vogel popped up to head it past a Cara Bösl who just couldn’t get across to it in time; though the ball was travelling at barely any pace, it was well placed, and Union’s keeper looked like she was trying to push her way through sand; like it was an anxiety dream made real. Which, in many ways, it was.

Again, Union had to be patient. Bochum only had three outfield players on the bench, so they knew they would get their chances as the game wore on and the opponents wore down. Initially though, the hosts even seemed to be gaining in possession and momentum, taking the front foot, and it took another fine piece of defending from Steinert and Becker in tandem to stop the next Bochum attack.

But this Union side are made of some strong stuff, and they have shown their fighting capacities many times already this season, so when Halverkamps went on another one of those runs up the right that she has made such a habit of, and crossed into the box, it was with no great surprise that Nele Bauereisen finished to join Steinert on the  first-time-scorer’s list for the day. The fans could breathe again. She had given Union the lead again.

Poese would make more changes after that, bringing on Katja Orschmann for Janež and Sarah Abu Sabbah for Dina Orschmann. Abu Sabbah was almost immediately on the scoresheet when she took Heiseler’s cleverest of passes past Nändermann, but it was almost impossibly, and certainly improbably, cleared off the line at the very last.

So, inevitably, it would be the captain, Heiseler, who would score the goal of the day with five minutes to play when she launched a corner high into the box, looping all the way, before dropping neatly inside the top of the back post, as if gift wrapped with a bow on top.

Bauereisen would have a chance for her second, though she hit it straight at the keeper, but it would be five  before full time was up, with all of those momentary fears long since banished, as she slotted past Nändermann after another burst and Katja Orschmann’s pass.

Soon enough, that was that. There was time for the dancing and time for the singing, and for the fans to get their due from players who will always tell you how much of a difference their efforts make.

But then, the focus will be back on. Sunday, against Gütersloh, could prove to be more significant than anyone thought when they met in the cup,  way back on the first day of this  astonishing year.

„I'm delighted with the win and my first competitive goal. I'm very proud of the whole team and everything we've achieved. We made it unnecessarily exciting again at times today, but we got the job done in the end."

“That I was able to score my first two goals in such an important match is of course very nice. It wasn't easy today, but we held our ground well. Now I’m really looking forward to the home game next week.” 

“I am a little upset about the two goals conceded, but we have shown again that we can come back. The first twenty minutes were very good, where we also scored the goals; afterwards, there were phases in the game that did not go as we wanted. In the end, we managed to turn the game in our favor. We will now mobilize all our forces again in the coming week and want to secure the championship at home against Gütersloh,”