I haven’t updated since the first week of the blog, as the interest in Norwegian football isn’t at its greatest, but I promised a few reports as the season drew to a close, and here is the first one.

FRIDAY 28TH OCTOBER

FK Haugesund 1-1 Tromsø IL

Tromsø had to win this match in order to have any hope of winning the club’s first title. They controlled the match and created the chances in the first half, and finally found the net through Finnish centre back Miika Koppinen in the 52nd minute. After the goal Haugesund took over and created a couple of massive chances and had a penalty plea turned down before being awarded a penalty in the 79th minute. The penalty was converted by Serbian striker Nikola Djurdjic, the match ended in a draw and Tromsø will have to focus on securing the silver medal which would mean their best league achievement since 1990, having ended up third in both 2008 and 2010. Haugesund is comfortably positioned in 7th.

SUNDAY 30TH OCTOBER

Sarpsborg 08 1-1 Viking

A match in which neither team had anything to play for. Sarpsborg hadn’t won in 19 matches and was already relegated while Viking found themselves in a very disappointing 11th place in the table. The match reflected this and not much happened until the 72nd minute when midfielder Vidar Nisja needed two attempts to convert a Valon Berisha cross to make it 1-0 to Viking. The play went from goal to goal without producing anything much until the 90th minute when Sarpsborg got a penalty. Morten Giæver scored securing Sarpsborg their first point since September 15th.

Start 1-3 Odd Grenland

With 4 matches remaining this was a must win for Start with 4 points up to a safe spot on the table, however Odd Grenland is on an amazing run of form. Since their embarrassing 0-7 loss to Rosenborg in late August, Odd Grenland had won 6 and drawn 1 in their last 7 before this match. The first 30 minutes produced a few half-chances for Start, but in the 33rd minute young striker Torgeir Børven converted a corner making it 1-0 for the away team. Start created a couple of big chances, but failed to convert and in the 61st minute Odd Grenland countered in a 2-0 lead through Håvard Storbæk. In the 63rd minute Start were awarded a penalty which was converted by 38-year old striker Ole Martin Årst making the score 1-2 and him the current top scorer in the league. (Årst is an impressive old man; he was injured in late 2007 and struggled to get back for two years, but retired in October 2009. He was unable to stay off the pitch though, and signed a new contract with Start in early 2010 hoping to contribute in bit parts if necessary. Since then he has scored 28 goals in 51 matches.) Both teams continued to produce chances with Start chasing a vital equalizer, while Odd Grenland on produced some chances on counter attacks. In the 90th minute Odd was awarded a penalty which their captain Morten Fevang converted. The match ended 1-3, a potentially devastating result for Start as the still find themselves 4 points adrift of Fredrikstad.

Sogndal 0-0 Stabæk

This was another match where none of the teams have a lot to play for, Sogndal can technically still get relegated, but it seems unlikely at this point. Stabæk is in 10th place and their club has been hit by terrible economic problems and a transfer debacle in the last few weeks, they’ve also been ejected from their home field after this season. The home team produced the biggest chances both in the first and the second half, failing to score from 6 yards on an open goal in the 88th minute. An interesting point from the match is that the 38 year old former Chelsea, Rangers, Siena and Sunderland striker Tore Andre Flo played the second half, and hit the post once. He made a surprising comeback for his old club Sogndal this summer, which really is a sign of a very disturbing trend in the Norwegian league. If 38 year olds like Flo and Årst can come back after a few years out and contribute in any degree, the league is not that great, now is it?

Lillestrøm 1-1 Aalesund

Lillestrøm played their first match after sacking Henning Berg, and were hoping to get their first win since August 7th. In the 29th minute they got another punch in the face as Edvard Skagestad made it 1-0 to Aalesund. Lillestrøm produced 3 gigantic chances before the half-time whistle, but failed to convert. Lillestrøm continued to produce chances and finally got their goal when Stefan Gislason headed in a Karim Essediri free-kick in the 68th minute. Both teams produced a few chances, but none made them count, and the match ended in a disappointing draw for both teams. Lillestrøm have now gotten 2 points from the last 10 games finding themselves in 12th.

Molde 2-2 Strømsgodset

A win in this game would crown Molde champions with 2 games remaining, and most people expected a fairly easy win against an 8th placed Strømsgodset who is a pretty poor away team with only 8 points in their 13 away-games this season. Molde seemed nervous in the beginning of the match and only created their first chance after 16 minutes.They created a few big chances, but at half-time the score was 0-0.

In the 58th minute the stadium exploded as right back Magne Simonsen scored his first goal in the top flight in 4 years, making it 1-0 for the home team. The celebrations were short lived as Strømsgodset went straight up the other end making it 1-1 with Ola Kamara scoring the equalizer less than a minute after Simonsen sent the Molde fans into raptures. In the 70th minute former Manchester United reserve team captain Magnus Wolff Eikrem re-enraptured the Molde fans heading home a 2-1 lead. Molde were 20 minutes away from their first league title in their 100th year of existence. In the dying minutes of the game the fans were celebrating, but in the 90th minute a Strømsgodset player was brought down in the box. The referee inexplicably called it as a free kick right outside the box, but in the end it didn’t matter as Anders Konradsen slotted home the free kick making it 2-2.

Molde fans may have to wait 3 weeks to celebrate their first league title as the Norwegian league now go into an insane 3 week hiatus as next week will be the cup final and the following week will be an international date. However if Brann managed to beat bitter Molde rivals Rosenborg on Rosenborg’s home turf in Sunday’s 8 PM match Molde would still win the league.

Rosenborg 3-6 Brann

One of the biggest games in Norwegian football as the two competing teams are two of the biggest clubs in Norway in terms of success and attendance. Brann have not been good since their league title in 2007, but the rivalry is alive and well between the teams from Norway’s second and third biggest cities (Brann is from Bergen, Rosenborg is from Trondheim). Rosenborg were favorites, many thinking that Brann’s focus was on next weekend’s cup final.

Rosenborg produced their first chance in the opening seconds, but only got a corner. Brann then rushed up the other end finding the net after 92 seconds, but the goal was correctly disallowed as offside. Brann made a lot of defensive errors in the early minutes, but Rosenborg failed to make them count and in the 9th minute Brann right-back Birkir Mar Sævarsson ran with the ball from his own half and sent an easy shot towards the goal with his weak left foot. Rosenborg goalkeeper Daniel Örlund should have made an easy save, but managed to hit it under himself and into the goal. 1-0 to Brann. After the goal Brann continued to make errors, but Rosenborg couldn’t make it count. By the 15th minute Brann made two great counter attacks, one resulting in a big chance and the second in a penalty which was slotted home by Jamaican defensive midfielder Rodolph Austin, 2-0. Rosenborg then had a penalty shout correctly turned down, and in the 17th minute Rodolph Austin smashed home a 35 yard free kick making it 3-0 for Brann. In the 21st minute Rosenborg pulled one back with a clever free kick, Swedish international right back Mikael Lustig making it 1-3.

Writing this as I’m watching the game, and as a Brann fan I have to say that this is both a cracker of a match, and a terrifying experience. Rosenborg own the ball, but it’s Brann who converts. In the 35th minute a Rosenborg free kick almost found the back of the net after hitting a Brann defender and grazing the bar to a corner. As the half drew to a close Rosenborg took over the play completely creating a few half-chances without seriously troubling the Brann goalkeeper, but the result was incredibly flattering for Brann. In the second half Rosenborg came out firing, but again Brann made their chances count with Nigerian striker Kim Ojo slotting home a 4-1 lead in the 48th minute.

In the 50th minute Brann did what they’ve done so many times this season with horrifying consequences; took off an attacking player to “secure their lead.” 30 seconds later Rosenborg found the net, but the goal was correctly flagged offside. Brann converted to an extremely defensive 4-5-1 playing long balls to lone giant Kim Ojo. In the 58th minute he held off four Rosenborg players before threading right back Sævarsson through. He chipped the keeper making the score an unbelievable 5-1. In the 62nd minute Brann captain Erik Mjelde made it 6-1… (This is insanely funny)d

Rosenborg, having lost hope of getting a result, still made a few attempts, but Brann continued defending deep and exploding on the counter when they had the chance. Rosenborg pulled back in the 85th minute and again in the 90th minute making it 3-6 but in the end Molde could start their celebration as league champions two hours late.

MONDAY 31ST OCTOBER

Vålerenga 1–2 Fredrikstad

The weekend’s results made this a very important game for both teams. On one hand Vålerenga’s biggest rivals for the medals (Tromsø and Rosenborg) failed to win, while the teams just behind them did win. For Fredrikstad a win in this game would mean that they only needed one point at home to Start in their postponed match in order to stay clear of relegation and send Start down.

The match started slow with Vålerenga creating the first big chance 16 minutes in. Halfway into the first half, veteran midfielder Hans Erik Ramberg sent a 20 yard shot inn off the bar via a Vålerenga defender making it 0-1, a somewhat surprising and very important result for Fredrikstad. In the 35th minute notorious “goal-sneak” Morten Berre made the score even after two tries. In the second half Fredrikstad seemed to want the win more from the get go and they were finally rewarded when talented midfielder Etzaz Hussain made it 1-2 in the 60th minute.

Vålerenga pressed on for an equalizer, but couldn’t make it count. The match ended with a surprising away win, the match-winner scored by a player Vålerenga let go on a free transfer at the start of this season.