At the end, it just wasn’t to be. Union had already secured their place as the best newly promoted side to the Bundesliga in almost 20 years. They had left their mark on a league they plan to play a big role in over the next 20, too. But on the final day of the season, despite racing into an early lead, there was too much at stake for an excellent Eintracht Frankfurt side, fighting tooth and claw for their renewed place in Europe. Union gave their all, but they fell at the last.

But it was no walk in the park for the hosts, and with half an hour up, they’d have been forgiven for a few jitters. Union gave them a hell of a shock. They would make their mark almost instantly.

The Stadion an Brentanobad was packed, its three sides of terracing just settling in when Lisa Heiseler went out to take Union’s first corner. She placed the ball on the very edge of the marking, but the referee’s assistant wasn’t happy. She moved it back, but now Heiseler wasn’t happy. A third time she adjusted the lie of the ball, before taking two steps back, putting both arms into the air and stepping up.

But while a handful of the home fans muttered about this slightest of delays, Heiseler didn’t bat an eyelid, whipping the ball high, with wicked bend in as it dropped, over the fist of Lina Altenburg, and under the bar. Just as she had against Bochum last season her way to the 2. Liga Top-scorer’s trophy, she had done it again. The captain will never cease to surprise.

Predictably, Eintracht pushed Union back into their own half almost immediately, but the guests were digging in. Eileen Campbell, dropped back, winning a challenge well inside her own half, as Sophie Weidauer and Lia Kamber also put their elbows out, the former, in a new role in the middle, dispossessing Noemi Ivelj.

Laura Freigang got the better of Weidauer ten minutes in, playing in Rebecka Blomqvist, but she seemed caught in two minds as to whether to cross or shoot, and in the end went for a bit of both, the ball slipping wide of the back post. Blomqvist was up again soon enough, this time with a better angle, but the excellent Cara Bösl made a wonderful save, diving to her right and palming the flying ball wide.

Union countered, with Nele Bauereisen dropping a shoulder on Nina Lührßen, freeing herself to cross from the right. It came right back at her from Hannah Eurlings, but the starting XI debutant flicked her header wide under pressure.

Their endeavour would pay off again after 20 minutes though, after the influential Kamber had strode up the middle, exchanging passes with Judith Steinert who played a fine one-two with Eurlings. She then squared for Campbell, who took a step inside Sara Doorsoun, firing an unstoppable shot past Altenburg with her right. The Union fans, lighting up their corner, whose drums never ceased until long after the final whistle, could hardly believe their eyes.

Again, Eintracht came back through Blomqvist, but this time Steinert was there, throwing herself at the shot like a cartoon soldier onto a hand grenade. Freigang, having fallen just short of a long diagonal out on the right, now tried her luck from the left, but her shot ballooned over Bösl’s goal. The keeper, meanwhile, was excelling again. Ereleta Memeti broke through with ten minutes to play of the half, but again Bösl stayed on her feet as long as she could, thwarting her with a stuck-out leg at the last.

But there was little she could do when Freigang wriggled free of Samantha Steuerwald’s attentions after 37 minutes, turning past her and burying her shot past the keeper with a flourish.

Eintracht stepped up their pressure following the goal, and Amber Tysiak got booked for a late challenge on Lührßen. Though the free kick came to nothing, the Eintracht captain, Freigang, was taking things into her own hands, and equalised with another unerring finish on 41 minutes after getting in behind the Union back line again.

With Lührßen and Blomqvist wreaking havoc down the left, Freigang was popping up everywhere, and she almost made it three just before the break, flashing her shot just wide of Bösl’s right-hand upright, before coming even closer two minutes into time added on, when beating Bösl to the bouncing ball, but again placing it just wide. Union were now just hanging on until the break, with all-hands-on-deck; Campbell winning a challenge just outside the Union box; Weiß beating Memeti to a ball from behind on the 18-yard line.

The hosts came outflying after the break, taking their momentum into the second half, with Bösl saving well from Blomqvist’s header, then as Steuerwald got back just in time to deflect the same player’s shot out for a corner. It fell to Doorsoun, but her first-time shot flew just over the bar.

Union were rocking, and though Bösl got a hand to Lisanne Gräwe’s long range shot at the first attempt, she was already falling back and couldn’t halt its progress over the line. And then it was four. After Ivelj’s lung-busting run up the middle, with Kamber chasing all the way, the ball came to Geraldine Reuteler, who lashed it into the top corner. The winger had already announced her departure; her goal was celebrated as a parting gift.

With her side on the ropes, Poese made her first changes before the hour was up, with Ida Heikkinen and Naika Reissner replacing Weiß and Steinert. But they were struggling to stem the flow coming towards them, and Bösl was called into action again, at full stretch, as another soon-to-be-departing Frankfurt player, Nadine Riesen, tried her luck from the edge of the box.

Reissner was starting to make an impact on the left, beating Reuteler going one way, then, going the other, getting back just in time to put the Swiss international under just enough pressure to clip her volley off the top of the bar. But with 20 minutes to go they were turning the screw, and Gräwe went for precision instead of power, and put her next effort just past the top corner.

With Eintracht still looking for a fifth, Heiseler countered, bundling Gräwe off the ball and passing to Bauereisen, but she couldn’t make anything of the return pass. With just over ten minutes Poese took off Eurlings, replacing her with Fatma Sakar, making her last ever appearance for the club. She was joined on the pitch soon enough by Athanasia Moraitou, also bidding farewell.

It added a melancholic hint to the occasion, the pair had been so influential in Union’s rise from the Regionalliga but were now making way for new players to match the club’s lofty ambitions. That’s football, after all, but they would get the fine send-off they deserved after it was all done. Poese, the architect of it all, took a final bow, too. Eintracht had further chances, but with the sunshine now sapping the legs of the players, and five minutes added on, both Bauereisen and Weidauer went down with cramp at the same time. The game was petering out, with the substitution of the home side’s hero, Reuteler, for the last time adding to the sense that the season was ending for Union with more of a whimper than a bang, especially considering the start they had.

But they had come today as much in hope as expectation. This season was about establishing themselves, and they had more than done that. The wonderful fans’ celebrations at the final whistle final whistle just made it all the clearer.

They’ll be back next season, and that’s all that really counted. 

“It’s hard to find the words right now. I’m very grateful that I made the move to Union back then. We’ve gone from the Regionalliga to the Bundesliga. I’m very proud of that,”

“We started the match very well, something we hadn’t quite managed against Hoffenheim. However, we then became a bit more careless towards the end, which Frankfurt, as a top team, naturally punished.” 

“In the opening minutes, we put into practice everything we’d set out to do. We wanted to be aggressive, and we managed that. Later on, we didn’t defend quite as confidently. Nevertheless, it was a strong fight against a top side that has qualified for the Champions League. We’ve laid the foundations this season to achieve even better things next season.”