Rosenborg kept their positions for some hectic final minutes, and Per-Mathias Høgmo couldn't wish for a better home debut as a RBK coach!

"This is quite extraordinary great. I have an enormous happiness inside. It means a lot to the players to experience this enthusiasm, and I am glad they got this in a season with much negative focus from many sides. I am very, very happy on behalf of the players, who have been positive and loyal all the way and backed up the old coaching regime. Now, they got payed," Høgmo said after having secured the tenth participation in the Champions League.

Rosenborg did do a very good game, he found.

"We were in command from the start, and played us up during the game, creating ever more chances. The first 75 minutes were really good."

The new coach had to make changes early, when Thorstein Helstad had to leave with a hurt knee.

Brilliant wingers
"We had to make swift changes. Jan Gunnar came in, and I think that went fine. Then we had to make two new substitutions during the break, and in came two new, fit and fresh wingers, so that we could start threathening the room behind their defence. And we succeeded," Høgmo smiles.

Jan Gunnar Solli and Alexander Ødegaard scored one each, while Daniel Braaten was involved in the 3-0 goal.

"The wingers, who earlier have been sloppy about working defensively, settle the game. Both home and abroad it is important that they do a good job, which they did today," Per-Mathias Høgmo says, giving high praises to Ødegaard's 2-0 goal.

"That one is a phenomenal goalgetter prestation. He manages to hold his man off, and then he gets his foot and the ball around him. The will to score shines off of this moment."

3-0 was an own goal.

"We had many situations where we came around and made passes from the wings. We could as well have scored the third one ourselves," the RBK coach says.

"We have a Daniel Braaten and an Alexander Ødegaard, who, if they manage to continue their development, can go very far. But they have a distance to go," Høgmo states.

Worked defensively as well
Things worked well in the back lines too.

"Steaua didn't create many good chances today. It is important to neutralize players, get in close. The backs did that well. That way we stopped many good feet from making good crosses."

"But some still lack precision and tought. For their second goal, it is completely wrong by Fredrik Winsnes to make a pass into the middle of the field. Had we had more substitutes he'd be sent off at once. Apart from that, Fredrik played well today," Høgmo says.

Dramatic finish
The before mentioned 3-2 goal came less than two minutes after Steaua's first, and the result was a highly dramatic finish.

"The last fifteen minutes were strange. We were pressed hard. Frode was put down as an extra defender, to be better prepared for high crosses," the RBK commander said.

"But at the same time, we had the opportunity of settling things ourselves. Roar could, for instance, have passed to Daniel - or gone by himself - instead of passing to Alex. Luckily that situation wasn't decisive."

Steaua didn't make their third goal, and the cheering could start.

"The fans were a fantastic support all the way, and they lift the team forwards. In this way, Lerkendal becomes the fortress it shall be," Per-Mathias Høgmo ends.