Viking - Rosenborg 1-1
By Endre Bakken, 9 April 2007, 23:02
The first league match was less than spectacular.
Led by two eager Ivorians on the wings Rosenborg started offensively, and pressured the home team very hard the first half hour, without it resulting in anything more than a couple of minor chances. On the opposite side Miika Koppinen made the mistake of letting Peter Ijeh turn around and, from a distance, score via the goal post.
"It was a cheap goal. We should have tried to hinder him," Knut T�rum told TV2.
After getting the lead Viking got a morale boost, and Lars Hirschfeld was the only thing that prevented RBK from letting in more goals before half time. Before the second half Rosenborg made some changes on the midfield, wanting to prevent the opposition's constant long passes.
"We had to let Bj�rn Tore in early, because Lago became injured. We chose to put Vidar Riseth on the midfield to cover up the space in front of "Beto". I thought that worked well. Vidar creates some free kicks for the opposition, but otherwise he does a fine job," T�rum said.
When the mid-defense got some backup, the attack started to work better. In a couple of minutes the attack line had hit the bar twice : Didier Konan bent a shot with the outside of his right foot, after that Steffen Iversen headed a corner right into the metal pole.
The play went in waves before substitute Daniel Braaten got RBK a free kick out on the left side, 30 meters from the goal. From a tight angle Marek Sapara shot the ball via the Viking defense and into the goal. A decent result was secured!
"We worked hard and deserved one point, even though Viking could have scored several more goals," Knut T�rum concluded.
PS! The severity of Alejandro Lago's injury is not yet known.
Match statistics
Viking
1-1
ROSENBORG
Peter Ijeh 32
Marek Sapara 81
Monday 9. April 2007 20:00 The Tippeliga, Viking stadium, Stavanger
16 030 attendants
Rosenborg [4-3-3] Lars Hirschfeld - Fredrik Stoor, Alejandro Lago (Bj�rn Tore Kvarme 32), Miika Koppinen, Mikael Dorsin - Roar Strand, Marek Sapara, Per Ciljan Skjelbred (Vidar Riseth 46) - Didier Konan, Steffen Iversen, Abdoulrazak Traore (Daniel Braaten 69)
Led by two eager Ivorians on the wings Rosenborg started offensively, and pressured the home team very hard the first half hour, without it resulting in anything more than a couple of minor chances. On the opposite side Miika Koppinen made the mistake of letting Peter Ijeh turn around and, from a distance, score via the goal post.
