A sold-out Ruhrstadion provided the perfect as the teams came out onto the pitch in glorious sunshine. And the scene had its hoped-for effects for the hosts, as the Bundesliga’s bottom side were buoyed by the energy and created the first chances of the game in the furious opening minutes.

Union, however, were unfazed and their back three looked as strong as ever. More than that, it was the guests who took the lead with their first shot on goal. Christopher Trimmel's corner was initially cleared, but Union's top scorer Benedict Hollerbach found himself at the right-hand corner of the box. Volleyed, and his shot took a deflection on its way towards goal.

VfL took a few minutes to shake off the deficit. They had plenty to play for and responded through Maximilian Wittek’s long-range drive, though his shot drifted just wide of Frederik Rönnow’s goal. Though Union were unflinching at the back, Wittek and Bero did pose a certain danger with set-pieces.

Things grew tense as the half wore on, and the referee had to interrupt the game repeatedly to calm things down. Things dragged on into stoppage time with one minute of added time and another imprecise corner from the hosts was cleared.

Baumgart sent his side out unchanged for the second half, while VfL coach Dieter Hecking made his first change, replacing right-back Gamboa, who had already picked up a yellow card.

Once again, it was the home side who applied the most pressure in the opening minutes, but they were unable to cause Union too many problems. Indeed, Union came closest when Andrej Ilic beat Bernardo for pace and was only denied by the post after 50 minutes.

Barely six minutes later, the woodwork came to the rescue again. This time, however, it was at the other end. Bochum's initial shot was blocked, but the ball fell to Tom Krauß, who fired without hesitation, only to see his own shot hit the crossbar.

Shortly afterwards, the game was interrupted for a longer period when Union defender Diogo Leite was hit in the face by the ball while defending and had to leave the pitch on a stretcher. He was replaced by former Bochum player Kevin Vogt.

For all their competence, however, shortly after the restart, Leopold Querfeld used his hands while defending and, after a VAR review, Bochum were awarded a penalty in the 67^th minute. Though Rönnow again saved the spot kick – his 4^th in six this season  the rebound landed at the feet of Bero, who followed up to score Bochum’s equaliser.

Things had just settled down a bit when Bernado sent the stadium into a frenzy with an inaccurate back pass to his goalkeeper Horn. The keeper was able to scrape the ball off the line at the last second.

VfL threw everything at Union, desperate to turn the game around. But even in the ten minutes of time-added-on, Union’s defence held firm and saw the game out with little further drama.

"Bochum had more possession, but we had the better chances. The penalty came out of nowhere, there's nothing you can do about that. Overall, though, it's okay, considering the circumstances."

"I'll take away from this that I need to keep my hands off. I have to do better next time. And whether it was a penalty is something everyone has to decide for themselves. The most important thing is that Diogo gets well again". 

"I'm sure a penalty like that isn't always given. Overall, though, it was still a good performance from the referee. We'll now prepare for the next games with the same focus as before, and the lads don't want to let up either."