CFR Cluj 0-5 Tromso ( att : 6,729 ) – 2026/27 UEFA Conference League

 August 6, 2026

The draw from the UEFA Conference League Play-Off resulted in Brighton and Hove Albion being drawn against the winners of the Third Qualifying Round tie between CFR Cluj and Tromso. Fatbear decided it would be an opportunity to spy on Albion’s potentials opponents !

By finishing third in the Romania SuperLiga, CFR Cluj were exempt to the Second Qualifying Round of the Conference League where they were drawn against Armenian side Alashkert. A 1-1 draw was played out in the first leg in Yerevan, and Cluj cruised to a 3-0 home victory in the return, in front of a crowd of 5,465.

Tromso’s third place in the 2025 Eliteserien qualified them for the Second Qualifying Round of the Europa League, where they were perhaps surprisingly eliminated by Czech side Hradec Kralove. The Czechs grabbed a 1-0 away win in front of 5,082 spectators in Tromso, and although the Norwegian side scored first in the second leg with Larsen’s acrobatic close range finish after Innvaer’s strong run to level the tie, Hradec responded with three headed goals to progress 4-1 on aggregate. Tromso therefore dropped down to the Conference League.

Norway were 14^th in the UEFA coefficients used to determine the number of sides each country had this year in each UEFA club competitions, whereas Romania were 21^st.

Football In Romania

These diaries covered Universitatea Craiova’s first leg in their First Round Champions League tie against Levski Sofia last month, which they lost 0-1 in Bulgaria. This was these diaries 6^th match report on games involving Romanian sides, in addition to 6 match-day reviews/round-ups on the  Romania SuperLiga. However, CFR Cluj had not been featured in any match reports, although they had mentions in the 5 weekly round-ups.

The report on the Universitatea Craiova vs Levski game gave details on the format of the Romanian SuperLiga.

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2026/07/levski-sofia-1-0-universitatea-craiova.html 

The 2026/27 season in Romania had already started, and after their 3^rd place finish last season, CFR Cluj had made a disappointing start, with one win and two losses in the three games played so far. Both defeats had come away from home, going down 1-2 at Otelul Galati, and 1-3 at Rapid Bucharest, although a 5-0 home win had been registered over FC Voluntari, who had been reduced to 10 men after just 12 minutes.

CFR Cluj

The club were founded in 1907 in the city of Cluj-Napoca, the second largest city in Romania, located in the north-west of the country in the province of Transylvania. Cluj-Napoca is located around 460km north-west of the capital, and similar distances to Belgrade to the south-west and Budapest to the north-west.

When the club was founded, Cluj-Napoca was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and only became part of Romania in 1920, and around 50,000 people, 14% of the population, today are ethnic Hungarian.

After becoming part of Romania, the club changed its name from Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club, which from Hungarian translates as Cluj Railway Sport Club, to Căile Ferate Române Cluj, or Romanian Railways. Although the state railway carrier was dissolved in 1998 into four autonomous privatised companies, the football club retained the CFR initials in its name.

CFR have won the Romanian title on 8 occasions, with the first being in 2007/08, and there were 5 consecutive successes between 2017/18 and 2021/22, which was the last title won. CFR were runners-up in 2023/24 and 2024/25, and the Romanian Cup has been won 5 times, the last time in 2024/25.

Home is the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium, named after a former player, coach and club doctor, but is commonly referred to as the CFR Cluj Stadium. It has a capacity of 17,408 and a grass pitch. CFR Cluj’s average home attendance last season was only 3,159, the third lowest in the SuperLiga, and down from 4,499 from the previous season.

 

There are two top flight sides in Cluj-Napoca, so CFR Cluj are not to be confused with Universitatea Cluj, with whom there is a long-standing rivalry !

CFR Cluj’s colours have traditionally been white and burgundy, leading to one of their nicknames being The White and Burgundies, with The Railwaymen being another popular nickname.

CFR Cluj have a decent record in Europe, with their best performance being in 2012/13 when they finished third in their Champions’ League Group with 10 points, after a win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, two wins over Braga, and a draw in Istanbul with Galatasaray. This remains the best performance by a Romanian team in the Champions League, although of course Steaua Bucharest won the European Cup in 1986 beating Barcelona on penalties in the final in Seville.

CFR have also won matches against Roma, Lazio, Celtic ( twice ) and Basel ( three times ), whilst draws were played against Chelsea, Roma, and Lazio.

In the 2025/26 UEFA Europe League, CFR eliminated Hungarian side Paks 3-0 on aggregate, then Lugano 1-0, before being eliminated 1-4 on aggregate by Braga. Dropping down the UEFA Conference League, Cluj lost 2-7 on aggregate to Swedish side Hacken.

CFR Cluj Squad

The CFR Cluj squad didn’t contain any players who had represented the national side within the past 12 months. Indeed, the only current internationals were Mauritanian defender Aly Abeid ( 76 caps ) and Kosovan winger Meriton Korenica ( 6 caps ), who was the joint highest valued player according to Transfermrkt at €3M.

Also rated at €3M was right-winger Andrei Cordea ( 5 caps ), who had returned to Romania after a short spell in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign players in the squad included ex-Jablonec and Rio Ave Croatian defender Renato Pantalon, who hopefully wouldn’t be caught with his pants down,  veteran German right-back Cristopher Braun had played for Botosani and Rapid Bucharest after moving from OFI Crete, Serbian striker Stefan Drazic had played in Belgium, China, Hungary and Cyprus before joining Cluj, Portuguese left-back Simao Rocha was ex-Pacos de Ferreira, Croatian midfielder Karlo Muhar had played for Lech Poznan, Kayserispor, CSKA Sofia and in Saudi Arabia, whilst veteran Damjan Djorkovic had played for Bologna, Cesena, Livorno, Ajaccio, Furth and sides in Turkey, Saudi Arabia in addition to FCSB and Rapid Bucharest, and doesn’t appear to be any relation to Novak !

Midfielder Alin Fica had been with CFR since 2020 whilst keeper Octovian Valceanu had played for several sides in Romania before joining CFR last season. Midfielder Adrian Paun ( 1 cap ) had played in Isreal, forward Andres Sfait had briefly been with Saleritarnia, whilst Portugal born midfielder Mario Camora had 10 caps for Romania.

The coach was Portuguese Antonio Folha ( 26 caps ), who had played for Porto, Standard Liege and AEK Athens as a player.

Football In Norway

These diaries have covered 5 matches from Norway’s Eliteserien, with the most recent being the Valerenga vs Molde game in June last year.

There are 16 sides in the Norway Eliteserien, who play each other twice for a 30-game season. The Champions qualify for the UEFA Champions League play-off round, with the runners-up entering the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League. The Cup Winners go through to the Europa League play-off round whilst the third placed side enter the Europa League Second Qualifying Round. The team finishing in fourth place enter the Europa Conference League Second Qualifying Round. The bottom two sides are relegated to the Norway First League, known as the OBOS-ligaen, whilst the side finishing 14^th face a play-off against the winner of the First League promotion play-offs.

Norway is one of Europe’s 12 summer leagues and the 2026 season is half way through, with Bodo/Glimt leading the 2025 champions Viking Stavanger by one point but from one game more played. Tromso were in third place a further three points behind but 9 points clear of Lillestrom in 4^th place.

Tromso IL

Tromso is located inside the Arctic Circle on the island of Tromsoya and the municipality has a population of around 80,000, the 12^th largest in Norway. The journey by road is just under 1,750 km and would take nearly 22 hours, with the vast majority of the trip being through Sweden.  The flight takes 1 hour 50 minutes, which Fatbear has taken as flights to Svalbard needed to clear customs in Tromso before flying on to Longyearbyen. Therefore, Fatbear has been to Tromso Airport and seen the city from the air !

Tromso Idrettslag were founded in 1920 but clubs from northern Norway were only allowed to participate in the Norwegian Cub in 1963, and only in 1972 play in the top division. Tromso were promoted to play in the 1986 first division and played there until relegation in 2001. However, the stay in the second level was just for one season, as were the 2014 and 2020 seasons when they also played in the second tier.

Tromso have finished as runners-up on two occasions, in 1990 and 2011, but they won the Norwegian Cup in 1986 and 1996, which Wikipedia claims makes Tromso the most northerly team on the planet to win a national trophy !

Home is the 6,691 capacity Romssa Area, which has an artificial pitch, and the team’s nickname is Guten, which translates as The Boys. Tromso colours have traditionally been red and white shirts with white shorts and socks.

Tromso’s average home attendance this season was currently 5,164, the 10^th highest in the Eliteserien, and up from the 4,958 on 2025. In their last outing, Tromso won 6-2 at Aalesund.

Tromso have enjoyed some success in Europe, first coming to wider attention in the 1997/98 Cup-Winners Cup when they beat a Chelsea side including Vialli, Zola, Wise, Leboeuf, De Goey, Clarke, Petrescu and Hughes and coached by Ruud Gullit. However, the 3-2 win was played in a blizzard, and the Chelsea All-Stars avoided further embarrassment by winning the return 7-1 !

Tromso eliminated Galatasaray from the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, and beat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in the Group Phase. A 1-1 home draw was played against Athletic Bilbao in the 2009/10 Europa League play-off round but they were eliminated 3-4 on aggregate.

The 2013/14 Europa League play-off round saw Tromso beat Besiktas 2-1 at home but lost the return 0-2 to lose the tie 2-3 on aggregate. However, Besiktas were kicked out of the competition due to the 2011 match-fixing scandals in Turkey, and Tromso were re-instated. Tromso though lost 5 of their 6 group matches, including home and away defeats to Tottenham Hotspur ( 0-2 & 0-3 ), with the only point coming from a 1-1 home draw with Sheriff Tiraspol.

In the 2024/25 Conference League, Tromso recorded home and away 1-0 victories over Finnish side KuPS but disappointingly exited the competition to Kilmarnock. Although the first leg was a 2-2 draw in Scotland, a 0-1 home reverse in the return saw the Scottish side progress.

Tromso Squad

The Tromso squad had two current internationals, Mauritanian keeper Abderrahame Sarr ( 8 caps ) and Cape Verde forward Ieltsin Cameos ( 1 cap ). Cameos was the top scorer last season with 13 goals.

Veteran midfielder and captain Ruben Janssen was an ex-international ( 39 caps ), and had played in Germany for Kaiserslautern and for Dutch side Groningen.

The highest valued player at €10M according to Transfermrkt was Under 21 international midfielder Jens Hjerto-Dahl, who was this season’s joint top scorer so far with 7 goals, alongside midfielder Heine Asen Larsen. Swedish Under 21 full-back-back Alexander Warneryd had found the net 5 times this season.

Other foreign players in the Tromso squad included Danish keeper Jakob Haugaard, who had played for Stoke City, Wigan Athletic and AIK Stockholm, ex-Varnamo Swedish midfielder David Edvardsson and ex-Orgryte Swedish midfielder Isak Dahlqvist.

Forward Troy Nyhammer and midfielder Sander Innvaer had both previously played for Haugesund and appeared in these diaries in the relegation/play-off game in December 2024 against Moss FK.

The coach was Jorgen Vik, a former Norway Futsal international.

Matchday Information

The distance between Tromso and Cluj-Napoca is around 3,400 kilometres by road and ferry. There are no direct flights between the two cities, so unless flying on a chartered aircraft, the journey could take anything from 7 to 12 hours depending on the stopovers. It looked like around 20 Tromso supporters had travelled.

The weather at the 19.30 local time kick-off ( 17.30 UK ) was sunny and 33 degrees.

Tickets for the match were between 40-45 Lei ( £6.50 - £7.35 ), with VIP tickets 140 Lei ( £23 ) and 310 Lei ( £50 ) for the Business Lounge.

Bet365, who live streamed the match, made Tromso 17/10 favourites, with Cluj at 27/20 and the draw 11/5.

CFR Cluj were playing in all burgundy but with a broad white band down the front of their shirts, whilst Tromso were wearing a change kit of all dark blue

Tromso made four changes to the side that started the defeat to Hradec Kralove with Mathias Tonnessen, Lars Larsen, Dahlqvist and Nyhammer coming into the starting XI. Cameos and Innvaer dropped to the bench whilst Hjerto-Dahl was rumoured to be about to sign for Premiership Hull City for €11.5M and Tobias Guddal had been sold to Sparta Prague for €4.5M

Cluj made three changes to the team that took to the field against Alashkert with ex-Grasshoppers and Aston Villa Portuguese keeper Andre Moreira replacing Valceanu, Camora replaced Rocha, and Bruno Costa was in for Djokovic.

The referee was Patrik Kolaric from Croatia

Match Report

Nearly three minutes had been played before the Bet365 live stream became available, and almost immediately after there was a goal to report ! 

Warneryd went on a mazy run into the Cluj area. His cross took a slight deflection, enough for Lars Larsen to only be able to head upwards, but when the ball was falling, Heine Larsen hooked the ball home from the 6-yard line ahead of Abeid and Camora. Frankly, the two defenders could have done a lot better and were not brave enough. 0-1 in the 5^th minute.

Tromso’s lead could have been doubled a minute later as Jenssen ran through the middle of the Cluj half and offloaded to Heine Larsen on his left, but the left-footed shot was sliced wide from 12 yards.

The first Cluj were seen as an attacking threat came in the 9^th minute when a long ball found Cordea, but Tonnessen defended well and won the ball. Fica then played a ball through the left-hand channel and Korenica kept the ball in play and laid the ball back to Camora, but the cross was hit too long and sailed harmlessly beyond the far post.

Muhar then ran onto a flick and into the Tromso area, but his low shot across goal went narrowly wide.

However, Tromso soon scored again. A short pass from Janssen put Heine Larsen in oceans of space as a huge gap in the heart of the Cluj defence opened, and Larsen’s left footed side-footed shot from just inside the D nestled into the keeper’s bottom right-hand corner. It was now 0-2 with 19 minutes played.

Cluj responded with an in-swinging left-footed free-kick from Cordea which Heine Larsen, back helping out in defence, headed off for a corner.

The Cluj defence was struggling to cope with the visitors’ slick attacking moves and a third goal was soon added. Edvardsson played a diagonal ball towards the far post which Dahlqvist controlled, and with Camora unable to close him down, drilled across goal into far corner from just outside the angle of the yard box . There was a VAR check to see if Jenssen had been offside in the build-up, but Abeid had played the Tromso midfielder onside so the goal stood. 0-3 after 28 minutes.

Jenssen tried his luck from distance but Moreira dived to hold the 25-yarder. For Cluj, Muhar ran down left-hand channel but his low cross was cut out.

A comedy moment arrived in the 32^nd minute when Isak Vadebu pushed Korenica in the chest and the Kosovan went down holding his head. The battle between these two players continued two minutes later as Korenica was tackled by Vadebu when about to shoot from 8 yards out. The ball trickled through to keeper Haugaard, and Korenica stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes with an apparent injury. However, a miraculous recovery occurred and he was good to continue, and was soon fouling Vadebu when the young Tromso defender made a headed clearance.

Four minutes before half-time Nyhammer was allowed to run down the right wing and then across the 18- yard line, and his left footed effort hit both posts before going into the net. It looked like a hammer blow to Cluj, but a VAR check showed Heine Larsen to be in an offside position, and although not in the direct eyeline of keeper, his jump to get out of the way of the ball was enough for the goal to be chalked off.

Haugaard’s leisurely evening was disturbed when he needed to leap and catch a long ball just inside his area ahead of Drazic

In first-half added time, Tromso centre-back Skjaervik was unexpectedly marauding in space on the right wing but his floated cross was headed away by Pantalon.

The half-time statistics showed Cluj had 57% of the possession but in truth they had been outplayed, and had managed just one shot, which was off target. Tromso had impressed with their short, quick passing, and a desire to swiftly break.

Cluj changed their keeper for the start of the second half although Moreira had not been at fault for any of the three goals, nor the disallowed one. Muhar was also hooked, with Uruguayan Francisco Barrios taking his place

Cluj were unable to get into the second half, with the only action in the opening 10 minutes being Nyhammer’s shot from the edge of the area which Valceanu comfortably saved.

Nyhammer was the recipient of the first yellow card of the game, taking a heavy first touch after being put clear by Heine Larsen and then slid into Valceanu as the Cluj keeper had bravely come off his line to dive on the ball. Bruno Costa soon levelled the yellow card score though, after a clumsy challenge on Edvardsson when trying to win a header on edge of the Tromso area

Matter got worse for Cluj. Lars Larsen’s cute chip gave Heine Larsen a one-on-one with the keeper but Valceanu was able to block the first attempt, and the follow-up from the rebound was blocked by Braun. Nyhammer then had an effort blocked by Abeid but the loose ball was lashed home in Carlos Alberto style by Dahlqvist to make it 0-4 with 61 minutes on the clock.

Cluj now couldn’t get near the ball as Tromso confidently pass it around, The Railwaymen had appeared to have run out of steam !

Substitute Cameos moved clear down the left and his low ball found Nyhammer unmarked 10 yards out, but the first-time shot hit Valceanu’s legs.

A drinks break was taken after 70 minutes, but the refreshments didn’t seem to have any benefit to Cluj as Cameos slipped a pass through for Dahlqvist to put the ball past the advancing keeper for his hat-trick. There was a lengthy VAR check for offside but goal stood. 0-5 after 73 minutes.

With the game and almost certainly the tie settled, Tromso took the foot off the gas a little and Cluj ended the match on the front foot. Substitute Lorenzo Biliboc sent a long range left-footed effort over the bar, then poor defending by Tromso allowed the ball to fall to Fica but the shot was deflected wide for a corner.

Substitute Paun had a shot deflected wide for corner, which after being cleared, Sfait’s 30 yarder bounced through to Haugaard for an easy save. Drazic then shot wide after a flick from Fica.

Three added minutes were played but Tromso were not unduly troubled. There was still time for Camora to be shown a yellow card for diving in on Mads Mikklesen.

The second leg now looks to be a formality barring a record-breaking comeback from Cluj, so Brighton fans should be able to sample the Paris Of The North and try to see the Northern Lights ! 

Highlights :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZmq2SWXL4

CFR Cluj : Moreira ( Valceanu ) – Braun, Abeid, Pantalon, Camora – Bruno Costa ( Paun ), Muhar ( Barrios ), Fica – Cordea ( Sfait ), Drazic, Korenica ( Biliboc )

Tromso IL : Haugaard – Vadebu, Tonnessen, Skjaervik, Warneryd ( Innvaer ) – Dahlqvist ( Mikklesen ), Edvardsson ( Grundt ), Jenssen, L. Larsen – Nyhammer ( Braut ), H. Larsen ( Cameos )

 

Moss FK 0-0 FK Haugesund ( att : 2,557 ) – 2024 Eliteserien Play-Off

December 5, 2024

These diaries made a few incursions into Norway’s Eliteserien in 2021 and 2022 and sort of adopted Haugesund as their favourite club, mainly because their nickname was the Seagulls, the same as Brighton and Hove Albion !

Haugesund finished in 10^th position in 2022 and 12^th in 2023. However, 2024 was not so prosperous as they ended the regular season in 14^th place, and so faced a two-legged relegation play-off to retain their place in the top level in Norwegian football.

Haugesund

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. Its football side have been in the Eliteserien since 2010, with a best placed finish of third in 2013.

Haugesund play at the 8,754 capacity Haugesund Stadion, which is currently one of only 4 in the Eliteserien with a grass pitch.

In 2022, these diaries saw them beat Viking 4-2 at home but lose 0-1 at FK Jerv.

Haugesund This Season

The battle to avoid the one relegation play-off place was a closely fought affair, and with two games left to play just one point separated four sides.

Haugesund occupied the relegation play-off place on goal difference despite a 2-0 home win over rivals Tromso the week before and were one point adrift of Sandefjord and Kristiansund. Lillestrom and Odds BK had been cast adrift and had already been assured of the two automatic relegation places a few weeks before the end of the season.

However round 29 was a disaster for Haugesund as they lost 1-5 at Viking, Tromso beat Stromsgodset 2-0, Sandefjord won 3-0 at Lillestrom, and Kristiansund won 2-1 at KFUM Oslo.

Although Haugesund won their final league match 2-1 against already relegated Odds BK it wasn’t enough to overtake Tromso, who survived on goal difference despite a 1-2 reverse at Sarpsborg 08.

At the top end of the table, FK Bodo/Glimt were champions, finishing three points clear of SK Brann, with Viking a further two points behind. The Norwegian Cup Final is between Molde and Fredrikstad this weekend in Oslo, with the winners taking the final slot in Europe.

Haugesund Squad

From the players that featured in these diaries in 2022, only four are still with the club, namely keeper Egil Selvik ( 4 caps ), Danish centre-back Anders Baertelson, Danish midfielder Julius Eskesen, and ex-Hull City and Peterborough United forward Martin Samuelson.

The most notable departure was Greek midfielder Christos Zaferis who is now playing for Slavia Prague. Somalian forward Bilal Njie had moved to Odd BK, Senegalese striker Alioune Ndour was now playing in Belgium for Zulte-Waregem, and defender Peter Therkildsen is with Swedish side Djurgardens.

Defender Sorin Reese was now with Danish side Fremad Amager, Thore Pederson was now with Brann, as was midfielder Mads Sande. Midfielder Kevin Kygard was now playing for Lillestrom, after a short spell with Portuguese side Casa Pia. Nikolas Walstad was now with Stabaek and Alexander Sonderlund had dropped down two divisions to join Vard.

The mainstays of the current side were Norwegian centre-back Ulrik Fredriksen, Tunisian winger/forward Sebastien Tounekti ( 1 cap ), Capo Verde midfielder Bruno Leite ( 6 caps ), Swedish left-sided defender Oscar Krusnell and Danish midfielder Mathias Sauer, who is on loan from AGF.

Haugesund’s top scorer with 5 goals was Malian forward Sory Diarra ( 1 cap ), who has played in Romania for Petrolul Ploiesti. Defensive midfielder Anton Logi Ludviksson has won one cap for Iceland, midfielder Parfait Bizoza has been called up by Burundi but remains uncapped, unlike defender Claus Niyukuro who has one cap for Burundi.

Haugesund’s average attendance this season was 4,963, the 9^th best in the Eliteserien.

Moss

Moss is a coastal town, situated 55 kilometres south of the capital Oslo, and with a population of just over 30,000

It’s football side won the Norwegian title in 1986 and played Real Madrid on the first round of the 1988/89 European Cup. They also won the Norwegian Cup in 1983, which led to them playing Bayern Munich in the 1985/86 European Cup Winners Cup. The last time Moss were in the top level in Norway was in 2002, and they even played in the 4^th tier for one season in 2017.

Moss have been in the second tier 1.Division, known as the OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, for the past two seasons. They finished third this year to enter the promotion playoffs, in which they beat Kongsvinger 3-2 with the help of two own goals in front of a home crowd of 3,079. Their average attendance during the league season was 1,861.

Home is the Mellos stadium, which has a grass pitch and a capacity of 3,200, but has an athletics track around the pitch. Moss are also known as Kaellane, which means The Lads.

Keeper Mathias Erikson played every minute of the 30-game league season whilst forwards Thomas Jakobsen and Sebastian Pederson appeared in all 30 matches. Pederson was the top scorer with 11 goals, followed by Jakobsen with 10. Attacking midfielder Bo Hegland was next with 8 goals.

Swedish attacking midfielder Noah Alexandersson had played for IFK Gothenburg whilst defender Saadiq Elmi has 4 caps for Somalia.

The coach of Moss was ex-Everton, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic keeper Thomas Myhre, who made 56 appearances for Norway.

Matchday Information

The journey by road from Haugesund to Moss is 470 kilometres, which would normally take around 8 hours.  Moss were offering free buses for supporters to go to the second leg !

The weather at the 18.30 local time ( 17.30 UK time ) was sleet with a stiff breeze and temperatures of 2 degrees. Snow was visible on the running track around the ground.

Tickets for the game ranged between 200-220 NOK ( £14 to £16 ) for adults, 150-165 NOK ( £10.50 to £11.75 ) for over 67s, and 100-110 NOK ( £7 to £8 ) for under 16s.

The match was streamed live on Bet365.com, who made Moss 5/4 favourites, with Haugesund at 21/10 and the draw at 11/5.

Moss made one change to the side that started against Kongsvinger, with Bierton Isufi replacing Hakon Vold Krohg in midfield. Haugesund made four changes, with keeper Selvik, full back Vegard Solheim, Swedish left back Oscar Krusnell and Tounekti all returning to the side.

Moss were wearing yellow shirts with black sleeves, with black shorts and socks. Haugesund were in their usual all white kit.

Match Report

Haugesund started quickly and in the first minute Sauer’s pass invited Solheim to run deep inside the Moss area to play the ball across the 6-yard line but Tounekti’s effort from beyond the far post was blocked by Cassidy. Krusnell forced a corner after retrieving the loose ball, but the set-piece was cleared.

The visitors won their second corner in the fourth minute but again Moss were able to clear their lines and launched a counterattack, but Elmi lacked support and had to turn and play the ball back towards the half-way line.

A minute later Sauer’s delightful ball with the outside of left foot put Tounekti in space on the left, and the Tunisian cut back inside, but his 20-yard effort was straight at Eriksen, who held comfortably.

The high tempo beginning was end-to-end stuff as Isufi’s defence splitting ball released Pederson, whose first time left footed shot from 14 yards was saved by Selvik.

With 10 minutes played Elmi crossed from the left but Jakobson’s header went well wide of the Haugesund goal. Elmi continued to figure in the dangerous moments for Moss with a surging run down the left wing, but although his attempted pass was cut-out the left-back regained possession and sent a bullet cross into the penalty area but it was too high for the Moss attackers.

The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 19^th minute when Tounetki needlessly pulled back Isufi midway inside the Moss half.

In the 23^rd minute Sauer ran towards the byline inside the Moss area, but his low cross was pushed away by Eriksen and the loose ball was hoofed to safety. 

Three minutes later, the Seagulls created another good chance. A long kick from keeper Selvik found Sauer on the right-hand touchline and the midfielder cut inside to shoot left footed from 20 yards. Eriksen made the save, diving to his left to push the ball away and Bizoza was the quickest to react, playing the ball across the 6-yard line towards Liseth, but offside was given against Liseth.

Haugesund forced another corner but the header from Fredriksen was high and wide.

With 30 minutes on the clock Hapnes showed good skill to make space for himself and then played a cute chip over the Haugesund backline for Pederson to run onto. Keeper Selvik was quickly off his line as both players challenged for the ball. Pederson went to the floor in the collison, the ball went through Selvik and was rolling towards the empty net, but Fredrikson got back to put it out of play as Jakobsen came hopefully sliding in.

Back at the other end Tounekti was fouled inches outside the Moss area, but Krusnell wasteful free kick went harmlessly high and wide.

A couple of odd pieces of officiating followed next. Pederson slid in to perfectly win the ball only for Bizoza to then fall over him. The referee awarded a free-kick to Haugesund ! This was evened up a minute later when Sauer was declared offside from a throw-in………

Moss produced the game’s most flowing move so far, involving Alexandersson, Jakobsen and Hegland before Jakobsen strayed offside.

Four minutes from half-time a cross from Elmi was headed away by Fredriksen but only as far Alexandersson, who shot first time from just outside the area but could only direct his attempt straight to Selvik, who made a regulation catch.

The game remained scoreless at the interval, with Haugesund having had a slight edge in possession with 54%.

The Bet365 stream ceased just before the start of the second half never to return. The YouTube highlights of the game suggest that not too much was missed !

For the visitors Solheim sent a left footed shot from 25 yards at the Moss keeper, and in the 51^st minute Hegland sent a 20-yard shot bouncing narrowly wide for Moss.

Cassidy picked up Moss’ first yellow card for pulling back Tounekti before the visitors had their best chance of the match to-date in the 72^nd minute. Substitute Nyhammer ran onto a pass from Tounekti to cross from the left to beyond the back post where Innvaer volleyed left footed over the bar when he should have done a lot better.

Haugesund had an even better chance a minute later when Krusnell’s curling cross found Samuelson unmarked 8 yards out, but his header floated over the keeper and onto the crossbar. Eriksen pushed away the rebound before Innvaer could prod home.

The final chance came the way of the home side, when with 4 minutes remaining Aksel Potur cut in from the right to shoot from just outside the Haugesund area, but Selvik pushed the effort over the bar.

There was still time for Krusnell to be shown a yellow card for illegally stopping Moss’ Angolan forward Mankoka Afonso.

However, it remained 0-0 so it is everything to play for in the second leg on Sunday.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2hbyUsHi4

Moss FK : Eriksen - Cassidy, Harrison, Kukleci, Elmi, – Jakobsen, Isufi, Hapnes, Krohg, Alexandersson ( Potur ) – Pederson ( Afonso ), Hegland ( Krohg )

FK Haugesund : Selvik  – Solheim,  Baertelsen, Fredriksen, Krusnell – Sauer ( Innvaer ), Ludviksson ( Nyhammer ), Bizoza, Kondradsen. –Tounekti ( Diarra ), Liseth ( Samuelsen )

 

 

FK Jerv 1-0 FK Haugesund ( att : 2,090 ) – 2022 Norway Eliteserien

July 2, 2022

After last week’s delve in to the Eliteserien with Haugesund’s exciting 4-2 victory over Viking, they have again got the early Saturday afternoon kick-off slot, this time away at FK Jerv.

 

Jerv play in Grimstad, which with a population of 24,000, is the smallest town hosting a side in the Eliteserien. After finishing third in the OBOS ligaen in 2021, they won promotion via the play-offs, where they beat Brann Bergen after a penalty shoot-out to earn their first ever year at the highest level of football in Norway

Their home ground is the Levermyr Stadion, which has a capacity of 3,300 and a natural grass pitch.  Their first choice colours are yellow shirts with blue shorts, and according to Google translate, Jerv is the Norwegian word for Wolverine.

Jerv have perhaps unsurprisingly struggled so far in their first adventure mixing with the elite in Norway, going into today’s fixture second from bottom, just two wins and one draw from 10 games, and just 5 goals scored. They began the season with strong home form, with two 1-0 home wins, over Stromsgodset and Kristiansund, followed by a 1-1 draw with Tromso. Since then though they have lost 5 games on the trot, including home reverses to Odds BK ( 0-1 ), Sarpsborg 08 ( 0-5 ) and Ham-Kam ( 1-2 ). However, they have won two matches in the Norwegian Cup against lower league opposition, but their last 16 tie against Odds BK was postponed, with the game re-arranged for July 6th.

Jerv have the lowest average attendance in the Eliteserien this season at 2,516, with their largest crowd being on the opening day against Stromsgodset for their first ever match in the top division, when 2,843 were present.

The Jerv squad contains one player who has previously been mentioned in despatches in these diaries, namely Dutch winger/striker Rodney Antwi who was with Bulgarian Parva Liga side Tsarsko Selo Sofia in 2020. Antwi subsequently moved to Egyptian side Wadi Degla before signing for Ukrainian side Inhulets Petrove, and is now on loan at Jerv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Burly striker Willis Furtado has 1 cap for Cape Verde and has previously played for Raith Rovers, Stenhousemuir and Airdrie. He was Jerv’s top scorer in 2021 with 10 goals. Jerv have 4 players from Denmark, namely 20 year old forward Aral Simsir who is on loan from FC Midtjylland, captain and ex-Aalborg midfielder Mathias Wichmann, and defenders Mathias Haarup and Daniel Arrocha.

Also in the Jerv squad are ex-Cercle Brugge and Teplice Guinea Under 20 midfielder Amadou Diallo and ex Schalke II and Unterhaching German forward Felix Schroter.

Haugesund faced a 360km journey around the southern coast to Grimstad, which takes approximately 5 and half hour by road. They followed up their excellent 4-2 victory over Viking last weekend with a 1-0 win at third level Sotra to reach the last 16 of the Cup, with Martin Samuelsen grabbing the only goal of the game.

Tickets for the game ranged from 200-250 NOK ( £16-£20 ) and the weather at the 16.00 local kick-off time was dry, mostly sunny, and 18 degrees. The flags were fluttering in the blowing wind. Despite the bright weather, the floodlights were on at kick-off. The pitch has an Athletics track around it, and the food and drink stalls were visible behind one of the goals.

Bet365 made Haugesund 6/5 favourites, with Jerv at 21/10 and the draw 5/2. The match was live streamed on One Football, Eleven Sports and Bet365.com.

Jerv made one change from their previous starting line-up with Arrocha coming in for Wichne in defence. Haugesund also made one change, with Walstad keeping his place after impressing after coming on as a substitute against Viking.

It took Haugesund less than two minutes to register their first shot on goal, a long cross-field pass was controlled on his chest by Walstad behind the right-back, but his shot from a tight angle was pushed onto the corner of the post and cross-bar by keeper Ovreveit for the first corner of the match.

However, it was Jerv who had the better of the early phases. Diallo showed good skill to push the ball past his marker but go around on the other side to retain possession, and in the 9^th minute Diallo’s shot from just outside the area was blocked, but the ball fell for Furtado to shoot left-footed, but his effort was deflected narrowly wide off Walstad with the keeper stranded.

In the 12^th minute Ugland’s curling free-kick was swung beyond the far post where the stretching Sandberg could only divert a few feet wide. Two minutes later Haarup was found in space on the left but his 20 yard shot was high and wide.

Haugesund were struggling to get into the game as the home side enjoyed a good spell, but with just over 20 minutes played Eskesen delivered a dangerous cross from the right, but Arrocha was alert to divert for a corner before Ndour could pounce.

Neither side were then able to get a grip on the game, and although Haugesund had the majority of the possession, they were unable to create any chances as the two midfields cancelled each other out. However, Haugesund finished the half strongly and created several moments of danger. First, Njie made inroads down the left, and his low cross was flicked forward by Sande, and although the ball hit Haarup, it fell to Eskesen, but his shot from close range was crowded out for a corner. Walstad then got to the by-line and pulled the ball back to Njie, who shot well over from a good position.

Eskesen produced another threatening cross, but unfortunately it was inches too high for the unmarked Njie 6 yards out, before the half ended with the best move of the match, which saw Eskesen set-up for a great chance after good interplay between Krygard and Sande, but the midfielder could only shoot over the bar from around 15 yards.

The match remained score-less at the interval, but with 63% of the possession, Haugesund had looked better as the game progressed, and Jerv were perhaps a little fortunate to go into the break on level terms.

The start of the second half was not a great spectacle, with Jerv in particular being guilty of sloppily giving the ball away. The game was scrappy, and the yellow cards started to mount up. Against the run of play, Jerv had their best chance so far and after Haugesund gave the ball away near half-way, Jerv had a 3 on 1. Unfortunately for them, the pass to Diallo forced him wide, and his shot from a narrow angle hit keeper Selvik to go off for a corner.

Both sides made their first changes in the 68^th minute, but the introduction of Simsir for Jerv had the greater impact. Haugesund struggles were perhaps epitomised by substitute Soderlund’s clever dummy, but his two team-mates were not on the same wavelength, remaining motionless and failing to anticipate the move.

Jerv fashioned an even better chance in the 73^rd minute. Simsir skinned Walstad, leaving him on his back-side, and his pass to Norheim gave the home side a golden opportunity, but the Jerv midfielder could only sweep over the bar from the centre of the goal-mouth 8 yards out.

Simsir was soon involved again, running onto a long-ball, but his attempt to find Hustad was intercepted before the striker could run clear on goal. Furtado then beat two defenders down the right-wing, but his low cross was defender for a corner.

Haugesund’s response was for Samuelsen to make a decent run on the left and tee-up Soderlund, but the shot was weak and easily defended. Ndour then was able to turn on a half-cleared corner but his shot went a few feet wide.

With the game looking likely to end in a stalemate, Simsir burst into the Haugesund area only to fall to the ground as Krygard moved to challenge, but the referee rightly decided the on-loan Dane had dived, and brandished the yellow card for simulation.

As the game moved into added on time, Samsir received the ball on the left wing, and attempted to pass to substitute Schroter. The ball should have been cut-out by Walstad but he missed it, allowing the German striker to gather, cut inside past the unfortunate Walstad to thump home left-footed from 16 yard for a dramatic last-gasp winner. 

 

Haugesund were unable to respond, and Jerv held on for 3 important points. Although they remained second from bottom, the gap to the other struggling sides, who include Haugesund, has narrowed.

After their entertaining performance over Viking last week, Haugesund were disappointing. Their 5 game unbeaten run came to an end, to leave them in 12^th place.

FK Jerv : Ovretveit – Arrocha, Sandberg, Kolskogen, Harrup – Ugland ( Wichne ), Wichmann, Norheim – Furtado, Hustad ( Schroter ), Diallo ( Simsir )

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

Highlights : https://www.eliteserien.no/video?v=Jerv---Haugesund-1-0&videoID=e3cf3afc95914bfcb6f720f3e471dd91&c=&offset=81&a=1