Week 10 and 11 (sort of) round up

168

It was undoubtedly the day of the season so far. 19 years to the day of his first ever top-flight goal Sigurd Rushfeldt scored a perfect hat-trick to make his total tally 168, surpassing Harald Brattbakk as the all-time leading goal scorer in the Norwegian league. My take on Rushfeldt’s career and how it has been shaped by a generation of outstanding Norwegian strikers can be found on the excellent new website covering Nordic football, Stone by Stone

Sigurd Rushfeldt – The Marathon Man

 

Swinging Molde and an Orange uprising

The Norwegian league fixtures have been thrown slightly off kilter with the player’s strike last month, which meant that the week 9 games will now be played at the end of June. Week 10 was completed at the end of May, with six of the eight week 11 matches played last weekend.

Those two matches could not have been more of a rollercoaster of emotions for Molde fans. We’ve had some ridiculous swings in results from one game to another already this season, with Lillestrøm's experiencing a 10 goal swing in the first two games,  beating Stabæk 7-0 away followed by a 4-1 defeat at home to Brann in the next game. But Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde ™ almost equalled that this week after they bounced back from a  5-0 away defeat to Haugesund with a  5-1 hammering of Start at home. Now up to 5th place, Molde seems in an excellent position to become Tromsø’s biggest threat to the title this year.

Having said that, Aalesund is slowly creeping up the table, a solid 2-0 win over hapless Viking at home followed by a smash and grab victory away to 4th placed Stabæk, Kjetil Rekdal’s orange army overtaking their hosts and grabbing 3rd placed.

Both Aalesund and 2nd placed Strømsgodset are teams carried by predominately young and inexperienced players, and if they can sustain a title challenge it would be an incredible achievement by both Rekdal and Ronny Deila, Strømsgodset’s 35-year-old head coach.

Tarik Elyounoussi continues to impress on his return to Fredrikstad after his unsuccessful spell in Herenveen, saving his team from a defeat to their big rivals Sarpsborg 08 with a delightful late equaliser.

We finish with our regular Expected Top Four update, with the pundits favourites (guilty!) to top the table at the end of the season now lying in 5th, 11th, 14th and 16th (Molde, Vålerenga, Rosenborg and Viking). Viking's season is going from bad to worse to stop taking the mickey, but the resignation of sporting director and former Southampton, Blackburn and Rangers striker Egil Ostenstad had no immediate effect, as the Stavanger side lost 2-0 away to Haugesund in their most recent dismal performance.

 Week 10 results


Sarpsborg 08                      2-4                          Lillestrøm
Jørgensen 51                                                       Nosa Igiebor 5
Giæver 72 (pen)                                                 Sigurdarson 15, 87
                                                                                   Ujah (pen) 78

 Attn:  3 552

 Strømsgodset                    1-0                          Fredrikstad
Konradsen 68

 Attn: 5 241


Sogndal                                0-1                          Vålerenga
                                                                                  Olsen (o.g) 22

 Attn:  3 254


Haugesund                         5-0                          Molde
Søderlund 7
Paté Diouf (o.g.) 22
Sørum 39, 51
Djurdjic 59 (pen)

 Attn:  4 287


Start                                      2-4                          Stabæk
Hoff 32                                                                  Pálmason 46, 61
Årst 64                                                                  Ollé Ollé 58
                                                                                 Gunnarsson 65

Attn:  6 399


Aalesund                             2-0                          Viking
Sylling Olsen 11
Barrantes 58

 Attn: 9 736


Tromsø                                 4-0                          Brann
Rushfeldt 37, 75, 82
Høgli 90 (pen)

Attn: 4 844

Odd Grenland                   3-3                          Rosenborg
Brenne 18                                                            Prica 33
Johnsen 31                                                          Bakenga 73
Larsen (o.g.) 86                                                 Dorsin 87

 Attn:  5 777

 Player of the week: Sigurd Rushfeldt, Tromsø

Week 11 results

Brann                                    2-0                          Sogndal
Guastavino 76
Haugsdal 82

 Attn:  11 503

Haugesund                         2-0                          Viking
Bamberg 2
Djurdjic 55

 Attn: 5 000

Lillestrøm                            1-1                          Odd Grenland
Sundgot 76                                                          Myklebust 52

Attn: 5 363


Molde                                   5-1                          Start
Paté Diouf 7, 24                                                Vatshaug (o.g.) 48
Angan 13
Thioune 76
Chukwu 81

 Attn: 8 702

Stabæk                                 1-2                          Aalesund
Ollé Ollé 57                                                         Parr 7

Myklebust 73

 Attn: 6 324


Fredrikstad                         1-1                          Sarpsborg 08
Elyounoussi 86                                                  Wiig 65

 Attn: 12 565

Rosenborg – Strømsgodset (9^th July) and Vålerenga – Tromsø (10^th July) will complete the week 11 games.

Top Scorer

 9 goals
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm

 7 goals
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Ole Martin Årst, Start

 6 goals
Sigurd Rushfeldt, Tromsø
Pape Paté Diouf, Molde

Kim Ojo, Brann

Thomas Sørum, Haugesund

Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland

Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm