Under beautiful blue skies, surrounded by greenery and the higgledy-piggledy mix of stands of the Hänsch-Arena, redolent of football outside of the indentikit stadia of the modern game, the smattering of Union fans could be heard from the get-go. They had travelled all the way out to the Dutch border (Amsterdam is closer to Meppen than Berlin by about 200km), and their side started off this crucial game on the front foot, pushing Meppen back; winning a corner after a minute; forcing an almost catastrophic back pass after two; Antonia Halverkamps looping a ball over the top for a hair’s-breadth offside Lisa Heiseler after three.

But this wasn’t only an important fixture for the guests. In fourth place, Meppen, too, went into it with high hopes of promotion back to the Bundesliga, and it took a superb piece of muscular anticipation from Anna Weiß early on to shrug Ayleen Seyen off the ball as she cut in from the left-hand side.

It was clear that neither side were going to run away with this one. It would be a battle.

When in possession, Union spread as wide as could be, with Weiß and Pia Metzker, hugging the touchlines when Cara Bösl or Tomke Schneider had the ball at the back, and Weiß was quick to lay the ball off for Halverkamps with a lovely touch up the line that Union’s winger hit a little too close to Thea Farwick in the Meppen goal.

Halverkamps was busy in those opening phases, and her sliding challenge on Selma Licina, having dashed across the pitch to stop her as she crossed the halfway line, was a beauty, crunching and elegant at the same time, but it was also instructive of the fight for dominance taking place in the middle.

But the guests grew into the game, and Union’s first big chance came after 20 minutes, after another error, capitalised upon by Dina Orschmann, who chose to clip the ball into the box towards Heiseler as opposed to shooting, herself. Within seconds she would be in a similar situation, but this time her ball across goal to Reissner jumped slightly up, off the turf, and Union’s winger couldn’t get it out from under her feet to get a shot off on time.

Orschmann had the bit between her teeth, and she was within a Meppen toe-end away from slipping Heiseler through on goal, but after 33 minutes, Meppen broke, and had their best chance of the half, as Bösl was forced in to stopping Jenske Steenwijk’s throat-high effort, having bustled her way past Metzker and Marie Becker. Nina Kossen drove her shot over the bar when she had time to set herself a little more soon afterwards.

The game, however, struggled to get going, the tension on both sides to take their chances, while letting nothing through, showing. Momentum was hard to come by, especially with the constant breaks, as Reissner went down, then as Farwick went down, opportunities used both by Orschmann and Union’s individual coach, Marie-Louise Eta, taking the chance to have a chat with their teammates and charges.

With over five minutes played into time added on at the end of the half, again Meppen poured forward, one shot careering around the box like a pinball, the rebound cleared carefully by Heiseler.

The Union players were out early after the break, unchanged, patiently waiting for the hosts, and when they did arrive, the game carried on where it had left off. Orschmann and Halverkamps both tried to break through down the right, both times, however, the door was shut on them immediately. There was no space to breathe.

With ten minutes gone, however, they finally broke through. First Metzker was set free up the left from a delicate little pass Athanasia Moraitou up the line. She squared for Orschmann, who turned, the ball behind her, and laid it into space for Celine Frank to hammer goalwards, a huge deflection taking it past the flailing, helpless Farwick.

As in the last game between the sides, Union’s tireless, metronomic midfielder had stepped up when she was needed. It was her 102^nd game for Union, but maybe her most important moment.

Meppen reacted, stung, knowing they needed to drag themselves back into the game, with their season starting to hang in the balance, and it took a combination of both Metzker and Reissner to dispossess Seyen as she attacked down the right.

But this was an outlier, Schneider and Becker, were superb throughout, particularly in the second half, and

With 60 minutes played, Ailien Poese made her first changes, bringing Charleen Niesler and Sarah Abu Sabbah on for Becker and Halverkamps, but by now Union were sitting a little deeper, taking less to chance. Moraitou and Frank were getting stuck in, her elbows out. Heiseler was floored as she went into a 50-50 challenge 25 yards out from Union’s goal.  Still, Lena Göppel had to be watchful with the top scorer of all the Regionalliga now permanently on her shoulder, then as Reissner brushed her aside, charging towards goal with just over ten minutes to play.

But with Meppen’s efforts to drag themselves back into the game, they left a devastating gap at the back for Heiseler to dart into as Reissner came away with the ball. She waited calmly, before setting the captain away, one-on-one with Farwick, with all the time in the world to take a touch before finishing as coolly as you like with her right.

Union would make it three before time was out, again devastating on the break, this time with Heiseler being played in centrally, and picking out the run into the box of Abu Sabbah perfectly. All she had to do was roll the ball past Farwick.

With full time almost due, Nele Bauereisen, on for Reissner, miscued when through on goal, before Bösl, at the end, added a final flourish, just to remind us that she was still there, somehow getting a hand to Sonja Lux’s close-range effort.

Her efforts were to be topped a final time, however, as Heiseler got her fifteenth goal of an astonishing season with a fine volley with practically the last kick of the game. The cross had been sent in by Orschmann, and it couldn’t have been any more fitting.

They came together at the final whistle as “you’ll never walk alone” played out through the stadium speakers, drowning it out with their cries of joy. They were almost there.

‘We are absolutely delighted right now. Of course, we are pretty exhausted, but the joy of this away win is immense. It was very difficult today. We knew what to expect – Meppen are extremely strong at home. So we are just very happy to have taken all three points." 

"I'm incredibly happy with the team. We gave everything we had, both offensively and defensively. We need to play better in certain situations in the first half and we'll definitely address that. After the break, we were there – winning 4-0 in Meppen is simply a great performance." 

"It was definitely a hard-fought victory today. I think we did well in the first half too. We didn't allow them any chances, we were active and intense, which is what we set out to do. In the end, we scored the goals in the second half. All in all, it was a deserved away win today."