The Night of the Debutants
By Håvard Lindheim, 9 August 2004, 10:37
Mikael Dorsin and Daniel Braaten both played their first Rosenborg match home at Lerkendal, and marked it with a score each.
HAPPY FACES: Braaten and Dorsin could hardly have gotten a better home debut.
Photo: Thomas Myren
Dorsin gave RBK the important 2-1 goal, which was the blow that crushed Lillestrøm.
"He steals the ball from another Swede (Christoffer Andersson), makes a ass in front of the ball, and reaches the rebound himself. Well done!" praises assistant coach Per Joar Hansen.
The 22-year old left back was well pleased, to put it mildly, with his first meeting with Lerkendal.
Nice! "It is nice to get to show my skills to the crowd in this way. For me, to make a goal is a great bonus. I am after all a defender and is just supposed to help assisting the goals," Mikael Dorsin smiles.
Still, Micke had been thinking - "A goal in the debut at home, that would have been something..."
"Yes, of course one thinks about that. 'What shall I do if I score?' But when I suddenly scored, I forgot all the planned celebrations," one happy Swede tells us.
Dorsin also took time to praise the opponents after the game.
"Lillestrøm has a fantastic dicipline, but as the match went on, we - and the heat - broke them down," he states.
NEW HOME GROUND: Daniel Braaten shone like the sun after his Lerkendal debut.
Photo: Thomas Myren
Daniel Braaten, too, got his home debut this evening, as he replaced Harald Brattbakk for the last minutes of the match. On overtime he made the concluding 4-1 goal, after having been played through by another former Skeid player, Christer George.
Nervous "It is allright to get a start like this. Goals do good for forwards," Braaten grins.
Another goal could well have been made: At 2-1, he and Frode Johnsen both tried to put their foot on a pass from Øyvind Storflor, but none of them made it. Instead, Braaten noted an assist just after, when he passed the ball to Storflor who scored.
The transition from 1st division matches in front of 700 spectators at Voldsløkka to a top match in the Tippeliga, at a nearly full Lerkendal stadium, was big.
"Yes, it is fun with 19 000 on the tribunes and a fantastic atmosphere. Of course I was somewhat nervous prior to the first home match. This was at least as exciting as the debut on the national team," the newcommer ascertains.
Still injured Daniel Braaten is however not completely cured yet. His ligament is still troublesome.
"I still get treated by the medical personell. I am well enough to get some minutes as a substitute, but can't complete a full match yet. But progress is being made," Braaten says to rbkweb.com.
What position do you hope to play in when you get well? Centerforward or wing?
"I play where the coaches want me to. All the three forward positions suit me - as long as I am involved in the gameplay, I'm happy," the debutant says.
