Back page Round Six of the 2018 Swedish Allsvenskan saw yet another load of upsets, drama, and top-quality goals.
Göteborg rose victorious against Häcken in the Gothenburg Derby, Hammarby remain top after a win at Djurgårdens, and last season’s Champions Malmö were beaten 3-0 at Kalmar as their poor start to the season continues.
AIK kicked off Round Six when they hosted Sirius at the Friends Arena on Friday night. The home side secured a comfortable 2-0 win with goals either side of half time from Nabil Bahoui to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2018 season.
Sirius keeper Karim Fegrouche may have felt he could’ve done better on the first goal, when Bahoui effortlessly side-footed the ball past the heavy-footed keeper, who stood aimlessly as the ball hit the net.
The second was complimentary of AIK’s football when the ball was worked down the left channel where Rasmus Lindkvist was able to square the ball for an easy finish for Bahoui’s and AIK’s second of the game – another goalless venture for Sirius, who haven’t found the net in three consecutive league games.
The solo fixture of Saturday was the Gothenburg Derby between Göteborg and Häcken. Häcken have had a mixed start to the 2018 campaign, and their sub-par form continued when they succumbed to defeat at Goteborg’s Ullevi Stadium.
Elias Mar Omarsson scored his third and fourth goals of the season, first blasting in from point blank when a corner fell straight to his feet, and the second, well… Göteborg had been playing some fast-flowing football throughout the encounter and when the ball was fed into the box, Omarsson flicked it up with his foot, then with his knee and with his back to goal, jumped, swivelled and scissor-kicked the ball into the side netting.
Paulinho (again not the one you’re thinking of) added a consolation goal for Häcken, his second in as many games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc_VABfmDKg
Sunday is the day that Swedish football fans look forward to, and the day’s big fixture was between Stockholm’s Djurgårdens and Hammarby. It was Hammarby who made the short city trek to face Djurgårdens, and Hammarby who claimed all three points to remain top of the table and still unbeaten this season.
Midfielder Muamer Tankovic headed Hammarby into the lead after just three minutes, but there wouldn’t be another goal till the 78th minute when Djurgårdens’ Swedish substitute Kevin Edwards converted a penalty after Hammarby’s own substitute Anor Smarason brought down Haris Radetinac inside the box.
And it was a another substitute who made the final difference in the game, Pa Dibba came off the bench for Hammarby and when the league’s leading scorer Jiloan Hamad threaded him through, Dibba made no mistake in the loping the ball over the keeper and into the net, for a 91st minute winner.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Sundsvall continue their strong and still, surprisingly, unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 win over Elfsborg where a couple of penalties from Romain Gall sealed the win.
Trelleborgs got their first win of the season at 10-man Norrköping, much to the delight of all 11 of their travelling fans. Centre half Denis Hadzikadunic headed home from a corner for the lead after the break, before Jordan Larsson was shown a straight red card for a vicious kick out on Trelleborgs Alexander Blomqvist.
Deniz Hummet doubled Trelleborgs lead with a deft finish from the edge of the box, before Karl Holmberg pulled one back on the hour mark. Trelleborgs held on though, and left Norrkoping frustrated as the league table begins to take shape.
The biggest shock of the Round came on Sunday night, when Kalmar put three past an out-of-sorts Malmö team who, having lost just four games through all of last season, have already lost two in this campaign.
It was a rampant first half display that won the game for Kalmar, the scoring was opened by as controversial a goal as you’ll ever see. Scrappy play from both teams inside the Malmö box led to Maans Soderqvist being able to tap the flapping ball into the net but he did so, seemingly, with his arm.
The protests from Malmo players where instant and after minutes of deliberation, the goal was not given, a free kick awarded and yellow cards dealt for deliberation. Then just as play resumed, referee Patrik Eriksson halted play again, ran over to discuss it further with his linesman, and ended up awarding Kalmar the goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WhHwh_XhMI
Infuriating stuff for Magnus Pehrsson and his Malmö side, and the pain was doubled when Viktor Elm leaped with power to head home the second from a Romarinho free kick. The third and final goal came in injury time of the first half, when Hiago drilled a low shot past a defeated Johan Dahlin in the Malmö goal, who are lying in 10th place after six games.
The penultimate fixtures of Round Six were played out on Monday, and it proved to be a night to enjoy for Swedish football fans with nine goals in the nights two games.
Östersunds travelled down to Brommapojkarna, who now lie bottom of the table after Graham Potter’s side thumped the leagues new boys 4-0. Brwa Nouri opened the scoring from the spot on the half hour mark, after BP keeper Nikola Petric got in a minor scuffle Östersunds forward Dino Islamovic, resulting in the penalty. It was Islamovic though who scored the second and a great goal it was.
A short Östersunds corner eventually found it’s way to Ken Sema who laid the ball back into the path of Islamvoic who stopped the ball, and bent a beautiful strike past Petric into the top corner.
Soon after, Saman Ghoddos curled a pin-point free kick into the same corner to make it three for Östersunds, another top-quality goal on a weekend full of them. Islamovic got his second of the game and Östersunds’ fourth on 69, when Sema again found Islamvoic in the box, who from a tight angle squeezed the ball through the legs of Petric who had a day to forget in goal for BP.
Three teams remains unbeaten this season – Hammarby, AIK and Örebro – the latter enjoying a late and thrilling win at home to Dalkurd on Monday find themselves in third place on 12 points. Both teams had opportunties to take a first half lead but it took 54 minutes to find the first of five goals.
Dalkurd’s Japanse playmaker Yukiya Sugita netted infront of the travelling fans, side-footing the ball delicately into the bottom corner. Mohamed Buya Turay got Dalkurd’s second of the game, and second away goal of the season after the forward threw a few step overs, before finding the bottom corner for already his fourth goal of the season.
At two goals down and with 15 remaining, Örebro looked all but defeated, and their unbeaten start to the season looked to be coming to an end.
But, thanks to Dalkurd’s inability to defend corners, Örebro were back on level terms within ten minutes. Michael Omoh rifled home the ball from close range after the corner was failed to clear, and then from the oppositie corner, Nigerian forward Chibuke Igboananike headed home the equaliser at the near post.
And as if the 5,529 fans in the Behrn Arena weren’t already entertained enough, Igboananike stepped up to find the winning goal for Orebro in added time. A long ball forward was knocked down to the towering forward who turned and volleyed a fierce shot towards goal.
The ball took a slight nick off of a Dalkurd defender sending it past the keeper – bitter disappointment for Dalkurd, who performed well for 80 minutes, but absolute ecstacy for Östersunds’ fans who’s side showed great passion to pull it back so late on.
The table remains relatively unchanged after Round Six of the 2018 Swedish Allsvenskan. Hammarby are two points clear of AIK at the top of the table, with Örebro, Norrköping and Kalmar trailing. Malmö are slumped in 10th place, whilst BP hold up the table after Trelleborgs found their first points of the season.
There are ten games being played out in Round Seven, with Malmö, Djurgårdens, AIK and Sirius all featuring twice. Hammarby host the ubeaten Sundsvall on Saturday, with Trelleborgs making the trip across the south coast to face Hacken.
