For seventy-one minutes at the WWK Arena, FC Augsburg believed. They had trailed, roared back, and turned an early deficit into a lead that carried the giddy promise of a third victory in four games. Then Patrik Schick arrived, as he so often does, to remind them of the margins that separate ambition from achievement.

The striker's 89th-minute finish rescued a 2-2 draw for Bayer Leverkusen and stripped Augsburg of two points that had felt, for a heady stretch of the second half, entirely deserved. It was cruel on the hosts, whose Michael Gregoritsch had produced the kind of centre-forward's performance that wins matches on most afternoons. On this one, it only earned a share of the spoils.

The result nonetheless keeps Augsburg in rarefied air, third in the Bundesliga and unbeaten through their opening three fixtures. For Leverkusen, so recently the standard-bearers of German football, it was another reminder that this season demands patience — a point salvaged rather than a statement made.

Kofane sets the tone

Leverkusen struck first and struck early, the visitors settling into their rhythm while Augsburg were still finding their feet. In the 18th minute Edmond Tapsoba threaded a through ball of real vision from deep, splitting the home defence and inviting Christian Kofane to run onto it.

The forward needed no second invitation. Advancing into the centre of the box, Kofane opened up his body and steered a left-footed finish into the bottom right corner, the sort of composed dispatch that belied the pace of the move that created it. It was a goal of quality, and it gave the visitors the platform they craved.

For half an hour after that, the game followed the script Leverkusen had written. They controlled possession, kept Augsburg at arm's length, and looked the more assured of the two sides. The half-time whistle arrived with the away side ahead and seemingly in command of a contest they were dictating on their own terms.

Gregoritsch turns it around

Whatever was said in the Augsburg dressing room at the interval, the transformation was immediate and it was decisive. Within five minutes of the restart the hosts were level, and the man responsible was Gregoritsch. Hennes Behrens supplied the through ball, and the striker met it in the centre of the box with a left-footed finish that nestled into the bottom left corner.

The equaliser lit a fire beneath the home crowd, and it barely had time to settle before Augsburg went one better. In the 55th minute a corner was worked to Fabian Rieder, whose cross was inch-perfect. Gregoritsch rose at the near reaches of the six-yard area and powered a header into the top left corner, an emphatic finish to complete his double and turn the afternoon on its head.

In the space of five second-half minutes, Augsburg had gone from chasing the game to leading it, and the WWK Arena roared its approval. Gregoritsch, all movement and menace, had done what the best strikers do — punished a side that thought it had the measure of him. The lead felt like the reward for a team that refused to be cowed.

Schick has the last word

Leverkusen, to their credit, did not fold. They pressed for a way back into a match that had slipped from their grasp, and as the clock ticked into the final minutes the pressure told. In the 89th minute Malik Tillman found the space to pick out a runner, and it was Schick — inevitably — who was there to finish.

The Czech striker took the ball in the centre of the box and stroked a right-footed effort into the bottom left corner, silencing the home support in an instant. It was a finish of ruthless calm, a poacher's reward for a team that kept believing when the scoreboard suggested it should not. For Schick, it was the kind of late intervention that has become his signature.

Augsburg had no time to respond. The two points that had glittered so brightly for the best part of half an hour were reduced to one, and the mood at the final whistle was one of frustration rather than celebration. To lead through Gregoritsch's brace and finish level is a hard thing for any side to swallow.

What it means

For Augsburg, the draw extends an unbeaten start and leaves them third on seven points, a return that would have been the stuff of fantasy before the campaign began. Two wins and a draw, nine goals scored, only three conceded — the numbers speak of a team that has hit the ground running and carries genuine threat in the final third. The disappointment of this result should not obscure the substance of their start.

Yet the manner of the concession will gnaw at them. To defend a lead into the closing stages and then surrender it at the death is the difference between top of the table and third, between a signal of intent and a lesson in the fine margins. Gregoritsch deserved to be the story; instead he must settle for a footnote to Schick's late escape.

Leverkusen climb into the reckoning with four points from three, sixth in the standings and still searching for the fluency that once made them so formidable. A win, a draw and a defeat is the record of a side finding its way rather than one in command, but the character shown here — clawing back a two-goal second-half deficit — offers something to build on. Schick's finishing remains a weapon few defences can neutralise.

Both sides will leave with mixed feelings, and both will believe the coming weeks can bring more. Augsburg have proven their early form is no fluke; Leverkusen have proven they can dig out a point when the game runs against them. On this evidence, the Bundesliga season promises to test both to the very last minute.