Rosenborg - Sogndal 3-1
By Håvard Lindheim, 29 September 2004, 08:45
One good half was enough for a comfortable "duty win" for Rosenborg against the coming 1st division team.
2-0: RBK players celebrate Frode Johnsen's first score; Johnsen appreciates the man behind the first goal, Øyvind Storflor.
Photo: Åsmund Sjøberg
After two losses in a row in the league, Rosenborg were out for revenge before Saturday's Tippeliga match at Lerkendal. Three points were in demand.
"If we don't win against Sogndal, we don't deserve to win the league," Ola By Rise stated in advantage.
RBK had to do without Ørjan Berg (knee injury), Christer Basma (heel injury) and Daniel Braathen (out due to yellow cards). Their team mates, on their hand, wanted to appear as worthy gold candidates, and grabbed hold of the match from the start. 1-0 came when Øyvind Storflor got the ball out left, tunnelled Lars Blixt (lent out from RBK to Sogndal for the remains of the season) and hammered the ball into the close side of the goal. Great shot!
Storflor appears at the moment as the man of choice on the left wing, and as the match went by, Fastfoot was at it again. Blixt was yet again rounded by Big Øyvind, who passed the ball nicely onto Frode Johnsen's head. The goalgetter's heading was however stopped by keeper Kenneth Høye, but he had to concede a rebound, and Johnsen could place the ball in the net.
Merely two minutes later, the third goal of the afternoon came. Harald Brattbakk struck a corner from the left, and Johnsen headed home firmly. With his 16 goals so far, the lad from Telemark has gained a small lead in the Top Scorer List.
All in all, a very good first half by Rosenborg. On 2-0, RBK should have been rewarded a penalty when Ousman Nyan made a hands, and in addition, assister Brattbakk came very close to scoring - several times. Turns with following shots came from his side, time and again. Closest to success the 33-year old was when a free kick from 30 metres passed the Sogndal wall and hit the crossbar. But goal number 160 is still to come...
Øyvind Storflor had to go out at half time, after a small injury just before the break (nothing serious - ready for the Arsenal match), and was replaced by Thorstein Helstad. Possibly the loss of Big Øyvind's strikethrough power had some effect; anyway, Rosenborg wasn't much in the second half. The tempo fell, and the team didn't have their heart in the game.
"We relax, but I don't think the players are conscious about it. To some degree, I can understand it too. If a team like United, Arsenal or Real Madrid had done something like this, it would have been called 'controlling' - for us, obviously some see it as weakness," Ola By Rise said after the game.
In the final minutes, Sogndal got a goal as comfort. Anders Stadheim spun past Mikael Dorsin. After some hassle the ball ended up at Alexander Ødegaard (which RBK shows interest in), and he hammered in 3-1 at the far post. The next Lerkendal goal from Ødegaard might come with the RBK symbol on the chest?
"At least we get three points, which means that we're four ahead of Vålerenga," Harald Brattbakk ascertained.
Now we'll start looking forward to the first Champions League match at Lerkendal for two years!
