FK Haugesund 4-2 Viking FK Stavanger ( att : 5,608 ) – 2022 Norway Eliteserien

June 25, 2022

These diaries have only previously featured one match from Norway, a 1-1 draw between Odds BK and Sarpsborg 08 back in May 2021, and today’s match from round 11 of the 2022 Eliteserien is, by Norwegian standards, a local derby. Matches between these two sides are called Vestlandsderbyet, or the derby of Western Norway.

 

The distance between Haugesund and Stavanger is just over 80km, but the journey by road takes nearly two hours according to AA Route Planner !

Haugesund has a population of just over 37,000, which according to Wikipedia makes it the 37^th largest city in Norway. It is located on the North Sea coast, to the north of Stavanger. It’s football side have been in the Eliteserien since 2010, with a best placed finish of third in 2013, and they were beaten finalists in the 2019 Cup Final, going down 0-1 to…….Viking ! Last season they finished 11^th.

Haugesund have qualified for the Europe League on three occasions and have triumphed over Sturm Graz, Welsh club Airbus UK, and Coleraine and Cliftonville from Northern Ireland. They have also managed to beat Lech Poznan at home, and draw against PSV in Eindhoven, although they lost both ties on aggregate.

Haugesund play at the 8,754 capacity Haugesund Stadion, which is one of only 5 in the Eliteserien with a grass pitch. There is a small covered terrace with crash barriers behind one goal, whilst there is a 4 row line of uncovered seats behind the other goal. The stand opposite the main stand has a small amount of cover bur weirdly there is a small section of terracing in the top right-hand corner. Haugesund’s colours are all white and their nick-name is the Seagulls, so as a Brighton fan, Haugesund should be my favourite Norwegian side !

Haugesund went into today’s fixture in 14^th place in the table, which is third from bottom and the relegation play-off slot. They started the season with 5 consecutive losses, but their form has turned around with just one defeat in the next 6 matches, and the last three results have been draws. Overall, they possessed a 2-3-6 record, with 1-1-3 at home, where Kristiansund were overcome 2-0 and Aalesund were held 2-2. A 4-0 win was achieved at Odds, and last time out they managed a 1-1 draw in the Arctic Circle at Tromso.

Senegalese striker Alioune Ndour was their top scorer so far in 2022 with 6 goals, and 4 Danish players are regulars in the Haugesund starting line-up, namely centre-backs Anders Baertelsen and Soren Reese, and midfielders Peter Therkildsen and Julius Eskesen. Forward Martin Samuelsen has played for West Ham, Hull, Peterborough, Blackburn and Burton Albion amongst others, and has won 3 caps.

Stavanger is known as the oil capital of Norway, and after Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, it is the fourth largest city in the country.

Viking finished third in 2021, which saw them qualify for the Second Round of the Europa Conference where they will meet Sparta Prague. The club have won 8 national titles, although the last of these was achieved in 1991, and they have won the Cup 6 times, the most recent being in 2019.

As regular participants in European competitions, their most impressive performances were probably the UEFA cup eliminations of Chelsea in 2002/03, winning the second leg 4-2 at home, and Sporting Lisbon in 1999/00. Barcelona were held 0-0 at home in the 1992/93 Champions League, although the return in the Nou Camp was lost 0-1.

Roy Hodgson was coach of Viking between 2004/05 and current Forest Green Rovers manager Ian Burchnall was coach between 2016/17.

Viking play at the 15,900 capacity Viking Stadion, which for sponsorship reasons is currently named the SR Bank Arena, and their first-choice colours are dark blue.

At the start of the day Viking were in third place in the table. They had led the way after 6 matches, but have subsequently gone 4 matches without a win. Their last two matches had been lost, 1-2 at home to Sandefjord and 2-3 at Stromsgodset, which followed draws at home to newly-promoted Ham-Kam and at Tromso. Overall, they possessed a 6-3-3 record, being 4-2-1 at home and 2-1-2 away.

Captain Veton Berisha ( 10 caps ) is the leading scorer in the Eliteserien so far this season with 8 goals, which follows the 22 he notched in 2021, which put him third in the Golden Boot. The younger brother of Valon Berisha, he has scored over 70 times for Viking during two spells with the club.

The Viking squad includes Icelandic keeper Patrik Gunnarsson ( 1 cap ) who has played for Brentford and Southend, and ex-Bravo Slovenian defender David Brekalo ( 4 caps ). Midfielder Samuel Fridjonsson also comes from Iceland, striker Kevin Kabran is Swedish and ex-Telstar left-back Shayne Pattynama has a Dutch/Indonesian heritage.

Midfielder Markus Solbakken, who has played for Reading and Paderborn and won 8 caps, is the son of Stale Solbakken, who won 58 caps for Norway, briefly played for Wimbledon in the Premier League, and had a spell as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yann-Erik de Lanlay has won 5 caps but the last of these was in 2014.

Haugesund’s average home attendance this season to-date is 3,608, whereas Viking have the second best in the league with 11,135. The overall average for the Eliteserien is 6,028.

The two sides have already met once in the league this season, which Viking won 5-1, thanks to a hat-trick from Berisha.

The match was streamed live on OneFootball and Eleven Sports, as well as on Bet365.com, who made Viking 11/10 favourites, with Haugesund at 11/5 and the draw 13/5. The temperature at the 16.00 kick-off local time was around 19 degrees and the weather was dry and sunny. Ticket prices for the match ranged between 150 NOK ( £12.50 ) to stand, and up to 300 NOK ( £25 ) for the best seats in the main stand.

Both sides made one change to their starting XI’s from their last outings. Haugesund brought in Bilal Njie in place of Nikolas Walstad, whereas perhaps surprisingly Viking had Berisha on the bench, with Under 19 international Daniel Karlsbakk starting in his place.

The small covered terraced, which contained around 25-30 spectators for the home match against Aalesund, was packed for today’s match, with the visiting Viking fans crammed in and making a lot of noise. Behind the open 4 row of seats behind the other goal, a number of residents in the apartment block took the opportunity to watch from their balconies .

The visitors had the early possession, and took the lead with barely 4 minutes gone. Solbakken was put in behind the Haguesund defence, and his low cross from the by-line was forced over the line by Karlsbakk for his first goal in senior football.

 

Viking barely had time to celebrate when they were caught in possession and Sande quickly played the ball forward to Ndour. Although Bjorshol forced the Senegalese striker out to the right, Ndour managed to get a shot away from just inside the penalty area, and although Gunnarsson was able to get a hand to the ball, he was unable to prevent it from creeping inside the far post. 1-1 with 7 minutes played.

The match took another dramatic turn four minutes later. Viking won the first corner of the match, but it was defended and cleared to release Nije. Despite being well inside his own half he had a straight run towards goal. Lokberg was the closest Viking player but his attempt to pull back Nije made some contact with his arm and the winger hit the ground. The referee had little alternative other than to show a red card to the Viking midfielder.

 

Solbakken shortly afterwards incurred the referee Saggi’s displeasure, wresting Nije to the floor as the winger made ground down the left, and was shown the yellow card.

If Viking were reeling, they turned the game on its head in the 18^th minute when Karlsbakk showed too much pace for the Haugesund back line to race to the by-line and his low pull was blocked by the sliding Reese. Unfortunately for the Danish centre-back, the ball struck his trailing arm and the referee pointed to the spot. Icelander Fridjonsson remained ice-cool to send Selvik the wrong way to give Viking a 2-1 lead.

 

After a breathless opening 20 minutes, the pace of the match slowed a little, but only until the 29^th minute when Haugesund put the ball into the net, only for the effort to be disallowed. Keeper Gunnarsson fumbled a bouncing long range shot and as he attempted to gather the loose ball, defender Vevatne and Haugesand’s Eskesen both slid in, and in the melee the ball fell kindly for Therkildsen to prod into the unguarded net. Referee Saggi awarded a foul on the goal-keeper, although the TV replays suggested that the collision was with the keeper’s own player rather than Eskesen. Gunnarsson milked the injury for a length period, so the players took an unscheduled water break !

Kabran shot tamely wide from just outside the area, and Sebulonsen shot high and wide after being found in space, but that was the last Viking were seen as an attacking threat in the first half, and the home side started to lay siege to the visitors, but lacked the guile to force open the stubborn defence. Sande saw a shot deflected wide for a corner, and Nije’s header was comfortably saved and Viking went into the interval holding onto their lead despite Haugesund having had 59% of the possession.

Both sides made a change at the break, with Vikstol coming on for Viking, but the introduction of Walstad made the bigger impact as the Haugesund substitute made an immediate impression on the left. The home side had strong appeals for a penalty as Eskesen’s shot struck the outstretched arm of Vevatne but the referee was unmoved.

However, the Seagulls were back on level terms just 6 minutes into the second half. Therkildsen delivered a threatening cross into the 6 yard area, which Bjorshol under pressure, could only head out to the unmarked Ndour, who thrashed home a first time half volley from around 14 yards which sped into the bottom corner leaving Gunnarsson no chance for his second goal of the game.

The ball was again in the Viking net 5 minutes later but Therkildson’s header was rightly chalked off for offside. Haugesund were swarming all over Viking and another goal looked inevitable. Gunnarsson was forced into a flamboyant tip over the bar to keep out Baertelsen’s thumping 30 yard strike.

In an effort to stem the tide and to add fresh legs, Viking made a triple substitution on 60 minutes, and successfully changed the pattern of the play as the pace diminished and the game entered a quiet spell. Haugesund eventually responded with a double substitution of their own with 15 minutes remaining, and the introduction of Samuelsen gave then renewed impetus.

Walstad and Samuelsen combined down the left to leave Walstad in space and his low cross was flicked home from 6 yards by Reese to give the home side the lead for the first time in the match, with just over 6 minutes left on the clock.

 

Viking’s response was swift, but keeper Selvik was alert to pounce on Sebulonsen’s dangerous low cross before Kabran could tap into the empty net. Haugesund then looked to run down the clock by keeping possession or playing into the corner flags, but with two minutes of added on time played, Samuelsen ran onto a short pass behind the Viking back-line and although his shot after a dribble was blocked by Vikstol, the ball ran loose to Zafeiris 10 yards out, and although his attempt was partially blocked, the ball trickled over the line to clinch a much need three points for the Seagulls and to give them the bragging rights in the Western Norway derby. Viking have now lost three in a row.

Highlights : https://www.eliteserien.no/video?v=Haugesund---Viking-4-2&videoID=0ba6541ff8104b13a92968ef9afe4bc8&c=&offset=90&a=1

FK Haugesund : Selvik – Therkildsen, Baertelsen, Reese, Pedersen ( Walstad ) – Sande, Krygard, Zafeiris, Eskesen ( Soderlund ) – Ndour, Nije ( Samuelsen )

Viking FK Stavanger : Gunnarsson – Bjorshol ( Traore ), Brekalo, Vevatne, Pattynama ( Vikstol )– Lokberg, Solbakken ( Tangen ), Fridjonsson ( Lanlay )– Sebulonsen, Kabran, Karlsbakk ( Sandberg )