Two months after our last game in Cosmoleague and only having played one game over the summer, a lot of questions were asked of a Vikings squad having lost Kim Oestergaard, Lasse Kroier and Daniel Lund over the summer. In addition the team was for this game missing the likes of Captain Tvilde, Calamari and star player Thomas Soerensen, in addition to injured normal starting 11-players Kaj & Kaj (aka Morfar and Bergholdt).

However the coach Rafa, did express his satisfaction with the 16-man squad and started out with a 3-4-3 to try an rattle the Dutch early, however as proclaimed we did change over to a 3-5-2 after some 15 minutes, and that quickly proved to give more balance in the team with Elbo having to work hard in the aerial battle with the Dutch captain and “the dog” tackling and passing well, they both provided plenty of space and freedom to attacking midfielder Peter D.T. – who filled the gap of Thomas Soerensen very well this Saturday afternoon. In addition Bugis was working well down the left and duo of Moeller and Rafa down the right, however in despite of majority in possession and a few decent changes such as Stereo Svin on a corner from Rafa and Peter DT on the edge of the box a few times, the Vikings failed to convert in first half. The half time talk was all about keeping up the pace and stressing that fact that we had a strong bench.

However a few subs from Hollandse gave them pace and additional aerial presence in the attack and for a short while they looked more likely to score the opener. Stereo Svin had to sub due to a collision with the Hollandse captain, and after a visit to the emergency room he is deemed out for 3-4 weeks with damaged ligaments. Jesper Soerensen came on and quickly took control of the Vikings defence, around the same time Danfoss came on for a somewhat exhausted Moeller, Casper replaced “the dog” on central midfield, and Chris came on for Rasmus Bach cramping up (luckily very close to the Vikings subs bench). It did not take long for our substitutes to impact the game with Chris first creating a chance and within 2-3 minutes of coming on to the pitch scoring the opener 1-0 Vikings. Peter DT has since claimed the assist, how the official replay shows that it did indeed come off a Dutch foot.

The central midfield was looking energetic and especially Casper looked bright after the introduction and the Vikings continued to produce chances, but it took a bit of “experience” to create the 2^nd goal as Buck Seng who had come on for Rafa and introduced on defensive midfield, first tackled his way to possession, then had a few swift passes with other midfielders before playing Casper who then released Korean speed canon Bugis (Naoki Fukushima) who cut in front of his defender and with a lovely chip over the goalie made it 2-0. Only minutes later another sub Michael F. Jensen scored a beauty from the left edge of the box beautifully lopping the keeper to make it 3-0, and with few minutes to go Dyne-Larsen who had been working his socks off in attack for the entire 90 minutes crowned a fantastic performance with a “Laudrup’ish” pass to Bugis who unselfishly squared it to Chris who could tap it in for his 2^nd in a season where he proclaimed that he will score more goals than Thomas Soerensen. Well, good start Chris – keep it going !

Man of the Match goes to Bugis who won 13 of 21 votes for a fantastic performance on the left and right wing respectively, but a mention also goes to Just for a solid flawless defensive job as manmarker, “air-elbo”, new attacking playmaker Peter D.T and double goalscorer hero Chris Kaiser.

Thanks to the referee for a good performance, a few more cards could have been shown (including 1 or 2 to us) – and thanks to Hollandse for a fair and solid game. It is also worth mentioning the very high standard of the pitch at SJI. More games there please !!!!

Brgds, Rafa