*This report was written before the scenes after the final whistle that saw a Hamburg player need urgent medical attention. Obviously, at times like this, the game itself is of utter insignificance, and we wish her a speedy recovery. 

After the final whistle finally came on Friday afternoon, bringing an end to a superb, win delivered through gritted teeth, the Union team formed a huddle, with Poese, beaming, in the middle. She gave a few words, before they all broke out in applause. Though it had been Amber Tysiak who had scored the only goal of the day, her first for the club, their target, the battered and bruised Cara Bösl, blushed slightly. She deserved every single moment of it. 

The last time Union’s women played in Hamburg, it was in the 2. Liga, on a training pitch with the massive Volksparkstadion looming, almost mockingly in the background. There weren’t enough toilets and they ran out of food and drink long before the final whistle. Well, this time, in the top flight following both sides’ promotions, they were in the big stadium, the main event, with the May Day sun lighting up the place. And though the masses of travelling Unioner were dwarfed in its cavernous expanses, they filled it with their voices.

But while Union had travelled free of worries, buoyed by the superb performances against Wolfsburg and Bayern, the hosts were fighting for survival in the league. They would have 11 shots in the first half, but Bösl was standing in the way every time they thought they had broken through.

Union’s keeper was magnificent, almost supernatural, and even ended the day wearing the armband. But it all started for her when Magou Doucouré got the first cross in of a superbly entertaining game, but it was never a problem for Union’s keeper, who plucked it out of the sky as easily as picking an apple off a tree. She had to more careful with the next one, as a free kick came in, originally intended to bend back away from goal, but that carried on straight, forcing the keeper back to her line to catch before it snuck under the bar.

Lia Kamber was just as cool, intercepting the first ball that came her way, taking the next from Bösl with the simplest, easiest of touches and turns. She held Mia Büchele off after six minutes just as deftly as when Samantha Steuerwald stepped up to rob Sophie Hillebrand, a moment later, before springing Sophie Weidauer away with a sharp long pass. Weidauer, always a target, couldn’t quite bring Hannah Eurlings’ quick diagonal under control in the HSV box, before getting her own shot away, following Lisa Heiseler’s dangerous corner.

Meanwhile, Bösl shone between the posts; her save from Christin Meyer’s header after 15 minutes was brilliant, springing to her left, before she repeated it, again from Meyer, again a header on goal, and again to the keeper’s left. Again, tipped away from danger. Though impressive, her best was still yet to come.

Then, just as HSV rued the two saves in short succession, Union thought they had landed a sucker punch as Kamber snuck in to prod Eurlings’ clever free kick over the line, but the flag went up immediately for a foul in the build-up, though few others had seen much of an infringement, least of all Kamber, who threw a quizzical glance at the referee, Anna-Lena Heidenreich.

But the hosts dusted themselves down, attacking furiously, and would surely have taken the lead were it not for Union’s keeper. She parried from Paulina Bartz, then Svea Stoldt and Meyer, following up, dropping down and getting back up, changing direction at least once, in one wild, dramatic attack that followed a HSV free kick crashing off the back post and dropping into the box where all around tried to get a decisive touch. They just couldn’t beat Bösl.

As the half drew towards its conclusion, Union stepped up again, but as hard as Eileen Campbell tried, there was little space to be found around the edges of the Hamburg box, as when Weidauer tried to dart past Büchele, she was denied at the last by a well timed tackle. They would have to be patient.

Unchanged, Union came out of the blocks quickest after the break, with Judith Steinert the next to see a shot into the crowd cleared. But Bösl was soon in the thick of things again, this time coming out to punch clear. Hillebrand’s attempted lob, with the keeper still out of position, dropped agonisingly wide.

Steinert was pushing up on the left-hand side, flicking one backheel out to Campbell at one moment, getting clattered by Hillebrand the next. But the resolute Hamburg were more than solid at the back. When Hipp drew a save from Lea Paulick, following Weidauer’s cut-back, their offside trap had worked perfectly, then when Weidauer got a little space to run into, Machtens brought her down, taking the yellow card as an occupational hazard, necessary at the time.

Then, with Ailien Poese having just made her first changes, with Nele Bauereisen and Naika Reissner replacing Weidauer and Weiß, Union took the lead. Fittingly, it came from chaos, as Hipp’s shot was parried by Paulick. But the ball fell, first for Bauereisen, whose shot was parried, then Amber Tysiak. Her shot was hoicked away, but just too late to stop it crossing the line for her first Union goal since signing from west ham in the Winter.

Steuerwald was close to doubling the lead only a couple of minutes later, after Reissner had found space to pick her out, but Paulick got across in time to tip it wide.

Bösl wasn’t done yet though, and she backpedalled quickly, reacting smartly to tip Bartz’s up and under, over the bar at the last. The dangerous substitute, Camilla Linberg, blazed over when she had more time to pick her spot,

Then hit the post with a fine drive from range, though the flag went up for offside. Analeen Böhler got a good contact on her header from a corner, but, as ever, Bösl was perfectly placed to take it at chest height. At the other end, Heiseler won a corner, taken only after Ida Heikkinen and Antonia Halverkamps had replaced Steinert and Hipp.

As if she hadn’t already been put under enough pressure, Bösl was then crashed into by Meyer, having already caught the ball ahead of the advancing player. It was careless at best, and the yellow card was more than deserved. She had barely got back to her feet when Bösl was given the armband, too, when marina Georgieva came on for skipper, Lisa Heiseler.

Still HSV strived to get back into things, and Reissner did excellently when Vildan Kardesler was put through on goal, chasing her down, doing just enough to stop her shooting initially, before, when it finally came, unsteady and heading away from goal now, she hit the post.

With five minutes added-on playing out, Union were hanging on as Heikkinen got across just in time to block Linberg’s cross, then wracked with worry as Tysiak went down for what felt like an eternity. Steuerwald blocked Melanie Brunnthaler’s shot; Reissner headed a corner clear from the near post.

But in the middle of the maelstrom stood Bösl. She got across a final time to tip a shot wide, then another from squeaking under the bar, having taken a yellow card on the chin for killing a vital few extra seconds of time as it all went on.

Though the glory would go to Tysiak, the win, really, was down to her.

“We wouldn’t have won today’s game without Cara Bösl. We owe her a big thank you and are very happy to have taken home the three points. We’ve reached our goal of 30 points. But of course, the incident after the game overshadows the sporting aspect, and I hope the HSV player recovers quickly.” 

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