Matchday 14 Recap: Hamburger SV 2 - 2 1. FC Union Berlin

Hamburg: Pollersbeck; Santos, Sakai, van Drongelen, Lacroix; Holtby, Hunt (Bates), Mangala (Moritz); Jatta, Hwang, Narey (Arp)

Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Friedrich, Hübner, Reichel; Schmiedebach, Prömel; Abdullahi, Mees (Hedlund), Hartel (Gogia); Polter (Andersson)

Goals:

Hamburg: Hunt - 58; Holtby - 65
Union: Mees - 12; Abdullahi - 90

Same, Abdullahi, same. Source: Union Berlin

Seeing as Hamburg had never been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga before this year and Union Berlin have never been promoted above the 2. Bundesliga, the first-ever competitive fixture between the two clubs was always going to be a big event. (While Union’s ancestor club did play against Hamburg a couple times way back in the 1920s, the modern iteration of Union Berlin has not.)

Der Dino’s debut in the 2. Bundesliga was an inauspicious one -- a 3-0 loss at home to Holstein Kiel. But apart from one other wild home loss -- 5-0 loss to Jahn Regensburg -- Hamburg have pieced together a string of positive results that have earned them the top spot in the table. Many questioned the decision to fire coach Christian Titz after a mere ten games in the second division, but it’s clear that since hiring Hannes Wolf to replace him, Hamburg have been on the upswing, winning three straight league games (not to mention their DFB-Pokal tie.)

So, it wasn’t exactly the best time for Union Berlin to pay a visit to the Volksparkstadion. But, with 6,000 boisterous Union fans in tow, the team from Koepenick managed to escape the jaws of Der Dino with a valuable away point, proving that while many people expect Hamburg and Koln to easily win promotion back to the top flight, Union aren’t staying down without a fight.

The story of Union Berlin’s season so far has been their defense, with goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz and the first-choice backline of Christopher Trimmel, Marvin Friedrich, Florian Hübner and Ken Reichel allowing only eight goals across the first 13 league matches. The offense, however, has been less to write home about -- until now.

Sebastian Polter, Joshua Mees, and Suleiman Abdullahi all struggled to overcome lingering injuries during the early part of this season, but since they’ve all returned to full fitness, the three of them have raked up eight goals and contributed assists to several others. Two of those eight goals came against Hamburg on Monday -- one comfortably early, the other uncomfortably late -- and cemented this attacking trio as a force to be reckoned with as the title race continues, as usual, to tighten.

Throughout the first half, Union appeared to be a match for Hamburg, despite ceding the majority of the possession to the home side. Yet as we’ve seen throughout the season so far, Union are happy to pressure the side with greater possession and seize opportunities to counter-attack and score. Before Joshua Mees came into the starting line-up, these goals rarely came before the 40th minute. But Mees followed his two early goals against Furth the previous week with a beautiful 12th-minute goal at Hamburg, showing that at least one member of the Union Berlin squad doesn’t need a half an hour or more for his scoring legs to warm up.

Hamburg came out swinging in the second half, and the sheer talent of the squad, which mostly remained intact post-relegation, became clear. Union’s defense has made few glaring errors this season, but Hamburg managed to pressure them into making two in quick succession. First, a poor clearance from Reichel in the 58th minute found the feet of Hamburg midfielder Aaron Hunt, who drove the ball home.

Then, the normally heroic Gikiewicz -- who was honored after the game with a cake for winning 2. Bundesliga Goal of the Month for October -- punched the ball straight to Hamburg’s Lewis Holtby, who scored in the 65th minute. Both Hamburg goals were easy pickings from close range, laid out on a platter for them by Union. It was hard to not be disappointed at going behind, especially since for the most part, Union were Hamburg’s match on the pitch.

However, if there’s one thing that’s clear about Union Berlin under Urs Fischer, it’s that they never give up. A large reason why they’ve remained unbeaten this season has been this fighting mentality; even if they remain on the back foot for a bit following an opposition goal, they always manage to summon up the will to keep grinding away for a result. This has led Union Berlin to score 5 goals in the 90th minute or later so far this season. Those goals secured five additional points in the table for Union, turning three losses into draws and one draw into a win.

In Hamburg, the goal that secured the draw came in the 90th minute when Abdullahi scored his first for the club off a header from Hübner and went absolutely mental. It was well deserved for the young Nigerian forward, currently on loan from Eintracht Braunschweig. Since joining the attacking trio, Abdullahi has absolutely earned his place in the forward trio alongside Mees and Polter, and now that he’s found his scoring boots, he can start competing with them for goals. (So far, Mees has three league goals to his name, while Polter has four, as well as two additional goals against Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal.)

Abdullahi’s moment of greatness was enough to overcome two uncharacteristic defensive errors and secure a valuable away point for Union. They now sit third in the table in the promotion playoff spot, behind Hamburg and Koln in the automatic promotion places. On Saturday, they welcome 12th-place Darmstadt to Koepenick and should hope to better their current home record of four wins and three draws. You need to win your home games if you want to be promoted, and so far Union have fallen short of the mark in that regard.