Two first-half goals fired Union Berlin to three valuable points at home to Sandhausen at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.

Steven Skrzybski and Simon Hedlund combined brilliantly as early as the fourth minute before the Union frontman fired across the keeper and into the net. Union’s short, sharp pressing actions were in stark contrast to the defeat last week in Eintracht Braunschweig, where the Köpenick side were largely second best.

The lead was doubled after a quarter of an hour when Kristian Pedersen turned home a loose ball from a corner kick. The Danish left back held his position at the far post to convert after Marc Torrejon’s header was denied by the woodwork. At the other end, Daniel Mesenhöler had little to contend with as Kenan Kocak’s side struggled to turn defence into attack as they have done so efficiently this season.

However, the second half felt like a different match as Sandhausen took control. Korbinian Vollmann rampaged down the left flank, spun the ball across goal and into the path of Philipp Förster who finished into an empty net. Inspired by the equaliser, Sandhausen took more risks and asked more questions of the Union defence. Denis Linsmayer missed a double chance on the hour mark, while Sukuta-Pasu should have made more of a clear one-vs-one situation a few minutes later.

In the end, Andre Hofschneider’s team held firm under pressure and gathered a vital three points to ease the pressure in the middle of the table.

“What SV Sandhausen produces every year is strong. With all due respect, today we came up against the kind of ‘nasty’ opposition we had expected. We had 90 difficult minutes in which we had to hold our ground in challenges at either end. In the first half, we managed avoid this and created some great chances. After the break, we wanted to get the third, but lost one at our end,” said Hofschneider after the match.

After a solid home win, Union are back on the road and this time, head to the Fritz Walter Stadion to face struggling 1.FC Kaiserslautern on Friday March 2 (18:30).