Åsane – Lyn 3-2: The prerequisite before the penultimate series round was clear: If Åsane beat Lyn, and Levanger lost away to Aalesund, Eirik Bakke’s men would secure the place. If not, it was a nerve-wracking final round where Levanger would take on Åsane. The winner would retain their place in the 1st division.
Aalesund took the lead after seven minutes of the match against Levanger, and just four minutes later Kjetil Rekdal’s men doubled the lead. The first chance at Åsane Arena came after just over a quarter had been played, but it was a big one. Autumn’s goal guarantor Sebastian Haugland ended up in a running duel with a Lyn player. He tipped the ball past an onrushing goalkeeper from outside the 16-metre area, but the ball rolled just wide.
Åsane – Lightning 3-2 (2-1)
1st division football, men. 29th series round of 30. Åsane Arena. 855 spectators. Judge Eivind Bodding, Haga IF. Yellow card: Kristoffer Barmen and Ole Kallevåg, Åsane. Herman Solberg Nilsen, Lyn.
Goal: 0-1 Anders Bjørntvedt Olsen (25), 1-1 Sebastian Haugland (35), 2-1 Haugland (41), 3-1 Haugland (58), 3-2 Anders Hellum (68).
Åsane (4-3-3): Simen Kjellevold – Eirik Lereng (Magnus Bruun-Hanssen from 88), Eirik Wollen Steen, Patrick André Wik, Knut Haga (Martin Ueland from 88) – Didrik Fredriksen, Kristoffer Barmen, Ole Kallevåg – Stian Nygard (Steffen Lie Skålevik from 71), Sebastian Haugland (Einar Iversen from 78), Emil Sildnes (Sander Eng Strand from 78).
In this period the home team was on the offensive, but after 25 minutes Didrik Fredriksen sent the ball straight to a Lyn player in Åsane’s half of the pitch. In the next few seconds, Anders Bjørntvedt found Olsen and tricked the ball past the hosts’ last defense, Simen Kjellevold.
Haugland show
Eirik Bakke’s men were in no way shaken by the late goal, and did not collapse like a house of cards. Only ten minutes after the cold shower, Emil Sildnes did a fantastic job when Haugland found the net masks. Thus it was 1-1.
Five minutes later, Stian Nygard was the waiter when Haugland scored the second of the day. The striker who came from the 3rd division club Sandviken this summer placed the ball beautifully in the corner. On the first goal, he had run straight towards the Lyn fans and hissed at them. Judge Eivind Bodding did not like that. Then on the 2-1 goal he just ran him very slowly past them, without making any gestures.
At the break, Åsane led 2-1, and even though Levanger had reduced the score to 1-2 against Aalesund, Eirik Bakke’s men would save the place if the results remained like this in the last 45 minutes.
The 2nd half started as a small positional war, where most of the action happened in midfield. Lyn moved more people forward, and that gave Åsane counter space. Sebastian Haugland was close to his third ten minutes into the half, when he got the ball into the field after a counter attack. The shot was not well placed.
Taus speaker
Two and a half minutes later, Knut Haga played the same man through. Alone with the goalkeeper, Haugland made no mistakes. Åsane thus led 3-1.
A couple of minutes later the message came that Aalesund had increased the lead to 3-1. Or no message ever came. Because the announcer at Åsane Arena had obviously been told not to come up with any results during the match this Saturday evening.
Lyn woke up in earnest after the home team got their third goal, and applied massive pressure in front of the Åsane goal. The result of the pressure came after 68 minutes. The Oslo team then received a corner, where Åsane was unable to clear in front of his own goal. Substitute Anders Hellum found his way to the nets. Thus, the match was full of nerves again.
And it was nerve-wracking. Lyn, who is coached by former Brann player Jan Halvor Halvorsen, continued the pressure. The Åsane players didn’t get a break, except for the times they managed to hold on to the ball long enough to create a counterattack. But in Ålesund, Kjetil Rekdal’s men continued to do their part, leading 4-1 before going into the last quarter of the penultimate round of the 1st division this year.
After the match, the players and coach in Åsane were relieved. Coach Eirik Bakke ordered his players straight into celebration.
– I hope they take it all the way. They deserve it!
See all the reactions here:
Nervedrama
A few minutes later, the former Brann 2 and Fana player Herman Stakset had embellished the result for Levanger. Aalesund thus led only 4-2.
In the northern part of Bergen, the Lightning continued their pressure against Åsane, and with five minutes of added time, they got many minutes of intense nail-biting with the hearts of the oranges. It didn’t help that Levanger reduced it to 3-4 after Åsane’s match was over.
But it worked. Åsane will play in the 1st division next season.
The Åsane players of course took Eirik Bakke’s message seriously. On Saturday evening, they gathered at the Rebel nightclub for a real party.
