Union Convincing in Victory

1. FC Union’s women’s team put on a stirring display of attacking intent on Sunday afternoon against 1. FFV Erfurt, winning 7-1. But the margin could have actually been significantly higher were it not for the heroics of Sophie Jorcke in the Erfurt goal.

1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner – Wildner, Becker, K. Orschmann, Reissner (67. Schindler) – Frank, Trojahn, Heiseler – Youssef (46. Bach), D. Orschmann, Krauss (79. Reichenbach)

1. FFV Erfurt: Jorcke – Klipstas, Ehrich, Mittelsdorf, Huck, Meyer, Groll, Engelhardt, Reinhardt, N. Gast (60. Langguth), Janssen

Goals: 1:0 D. Orschmann (10.), 1:1 Mittelsdorf (18.), 2:1 Youssef (21.), 3:1 K. Orschmann (27.), 4:1 Youssef (41.), 5:1 D. Orschmann (56.), 6:1 Heiseler (66.), 7:1 Bach (75.)

Attendance: 100

There must be times when Ailien Poese feels like she is facing a sysiphean task. When no matter how her team win and win, the gap to Viktoria at the head of the table, and Türkiyemspor in second, stays permanently the same. No matter how hard she pushes that rock up the mountain, it makes so little difference.

All she can do is try to keep her side’s spirits up, to keep them focussed on the task at hand. So far, she seems to be managing this with aplomb.

It helps, of course, that this is a long-term plan. And even when casting her eye over the injury list, which reads like a different Greek epic entirely, the squad that she has put together has been honed and grooved and improved. Look at it’s spine, from the dependable, calming presense of Melanie Wagner in goal, while Marie Becker is a player of skill and solidity at the back. Lisa Heiseler is a box to box midfielder of rare dynamism and Nour Youssef a bustling blur of a striker, utterly indefatigable.

The addition of the twins Dina and Katja Orschmann has brought steel and precision and an innate footballing wisdom. Union were superb on Sunday, if against limited opponents, and they graced the charming Fritz Lesch Sportplatz, flanked by its low topped, pastel coloured, identical housing blocks, as flakes of snow drifted through the sky and a decent crowd tried their gainful best to stay warm.

Union pile on the pressure. Erfurt counter.

It was a slow start from both sides, with Union content to move the ball about, testing out their opponents, Katja Orschmann and Becker nudging it along between themselves at the back. But they would take the lead early, Dina Orschmann driving home with her right from the edge of the box.

Union were now dominant, Luise Wildner certain she’d made it two having charged Sophie Jorcke in Erfurt’s goal – of whom more later – in the style of Peter McParland in the 1957 FA Cup final, if slightly less of an assault. Back then of course keepers were a less protected species than they are, fortunately, today. The referee, Pauline Meinicke ruled it out.

Then came a scare. Union were pushing up so high they were running the risk of being caught by a quick break, and that’s exactly what happened when Anna Mittelsdorf found herself a nose ahead in a flat race with Becker, the ball at her toe. She made it to the edge of the box and finished to Wagner’s left. The keeper got a touch, for the movement of the ball was stalled, and it rolled painfully towards the goal line where Katja Orschmann threw herself at it to try to hook it clear before crossing. She was just too late.

It was 1-1, but Becker would not allow it to happen again. The next time Mittelsdorf broke, she made surer of her starting position and snuffed out the danger in time.

Nour Youssef made it 2-1 not long afterwards with a powerful shot from inside the box that gave Jorcke no chance. Katja Orschmann made it 3-1 with a superb bullet header from Heiseler’s corner.

Union were showing their quality on the ball, Heiseler saw a lob roll just past the back post, Katja Orschmann found Youssef with the most perfectly judged, wonderfully weighted pass into the inside right channel. Youssef made it four before the break with another unerring finish from inside the box.

Complete control, and a goalkeeping masterclass

Union had been far better than Erfurt, but they faced a simple problem, namely the performance of Jorcke in goal for the guests. She was superb; she lit up the ragged pitch with a series of increasingly implausible stops and saves.

There was one after eight minutes from Wildner, diving to her right, another, a couple of minutes later was an even better, almost unbelievable reaction stop from Heiseler after the ball had hit the bar and dropped into the teeming chaos inside the six yard box. There was one from Dina Orschmann to her right, one from Youssef to her left, which she palmed out for a corner, and another staright above her from Lina Krauss.

Then just moments after the restart she saved Heiseler’s well-struck penalty, diving to her right, palming it away, before managing to snaffle the rebound from the feet of both Dina Orschmann and Celine Frank. She tormented Heiseler, diving bravely at her feet halfway through the second half. The Union skipper screamed at that – what must she do? she implored – but Jorcke just held the ball for a moment before hitting it as far away as she could for a moment, waiting for its inevitable return.

It took all of Dina Orschmann’s wiles to beat her, looking up from 35 yards out and seeing Jorcke off her line. She hit a superb lob, chipped but with pace, above the stricken stopper and into the top corner to make it 5-1. It would take until well over an hour had gone for Heiseler to finally score to make it 6-1. When she did, she puffed out her cheeks and smiled.

Latoya Bach added the final touch with a drive over Jorcke’s head from a tight angle on the right.

And as the snow grew heavier and chubbier and the game wound its way down towards the final whistle the news filtered back that both Viktoria and Türkiyemspor had won again, Union were still in third. But Poese already had her team together in a huddle on the pitch, preparing them to roll that rock up the mountain again next week.