Eu Jin, Jesper, Tvilde, Elbo, Cala, Lund, Ranck, Dt, Naoki, Hansen, Charni

Subs: Franner, Johan, Moeller, Marco, Casper

It was an important match against Brewerkz this weekend, as the battle for Cosmoleague 4th Place is almost as tight as the Villa, City & Spurs battle in the EPL. We needed 3 points to remain in contention for this Asian Champions League spot.

Brewerkz looked short of players, but we focused on our own squad and believed we could win this match. Brewerkz started the match better than us and looked dangerous on both flanks. They showed great skill/pace and our wingers struggled to keep Brewerkz quiet in the opening minutes. Brewekz scored the opening goal from a cross, which Eu Jin only managed to punch onto the crossbar and the Brewerkz topscorer was quick to convert the opportunity. 

We recovered quickly and played some good football going forward. Hansen & Charni working hard upfront and Ranck & Lund providing creativity from midfield. Minutes after the opening goal we got the equalizer as Ranck received the ball inside the box, his finish was blocked by the keeper, but Charni did well to put the loose ball into the net. 1-1.

Both teams looked good going forward, but unfortunately also vulnuable in defense. Another break on the wing, so Peter DT chasing shadows and the following cut-back pass was nicely converted for the 2-1 Brewerkz lead. This was the score at half-time. Peter unfortunately injured his ankle in his last match and was replaced by Casper.

In the half time team talk our players were told keep focus and show more desire to win the battles in midfield. There were more goals in this game, we just hope the majority were for Vikings. We definately improved on the fighting spirit in the second half, but unfortunately Brewerkz increased their lead to 3-1 as no players challenged a long free kick and it passed everyone enroute to goal including a stranded Eu Jin. It was an uphill battle, but shortly after we were correctly awarded a penalty kick. A clear yellow card for the keeper, but somehow he got away with it and was luckly not to receive his second yellow of the day. A major turning point in the match, as a red card and penalty goal would ignite a vikings comeback. To our own frustration the cards remained in the refs pocket and Charni missed the penalty. 

Elbo gave us a glimmer of hope with a good header from a pin-point Calamari cross. This gave us some belief for another comeback against Brewerkz.
Our opponents were relying on counter-attacks and always looked dangerous, as we pushed forward to force the equalizer. Peter Lund had a good shot from outside the box and Calamari "almost" scored from a header.

Eventually Brewerkz sealed the deal from a counter-attack and it's now looking very difficult for us to claim fourth spot. But we'll obviously keep on fighting to the end of the season.
 
It was the final game for both Peter DT & Vikings legend Calamari, as both are leaving for Denmark this week and we wish them all the best.

Good luck to Brewerkz in the remainder of the season

: Author - Thomas Sorensen