Welcome back. It’s good to see that so many of you are already following along with this new Football Manager 2019 story. As much as I enjoyed managing Fiorentina, and as much as I enjoyed managing Shrewsbury Town (okay… for the most part), this is already shaping up to be my most enjoyable career on FM19 yet.
In the previous chapter, we met the Lyn 1896 squad for the first time and unveiled no fewer than a dozen new faces. Today’s installment will take you through the first seven matches of Lyn’s first season back in the 2. divisjon, and the opening stages of the Cupen.
I’ll now pass you on to manager Marit Enstad as the 2019 season begins in earnest…
SEASON EXPECTATIONS
Hei, det er Marit! Before we get into the new season, I think I’ll let you know what’s expected from us over the next six or seven months.
The board want more than just safety in our first season back in the 2. divisjon. Their minimum expectation is a top-half finish in Avdeling 1, which I reckon is achievable with the squad we have. Actually, the difference in quality between us and the best teams isn’t that huge, so a promotion challenge is possible.
The media don’t think we’re ready for back-to-back promotions, mind. With them, we have been rated as high as 4th and as low as 7th. Rosenborg 2 are expected to win their division for the second straight year (though they cannot be promoted to the 1. divisjon). A difficult season is expected from the other newly-promoted side, Ørn Horten.
As far as the Cupen goes, the board would like to see us get to Round 2 at least. That’s definitely a realistic aim, seeing that we’ve been drawn at home to divisional rivals Elverum in Round 1. We will then play them again in the league just six days later!
LYN 1896 vs ELVERUM (Cupen – Round 1)
What a match to start off with! We played some attractive and positive football at time, only to be denied time and again by Elverum’s goalkeeper Emil Holst. The visitors then scored against the run of play after 27 minutes, when their big target man Jonas Enkerud volleyed in a cross from right-back Ulrik Balstad.
Though we remained 1-0 down at the break, I wasn’t worried. After I gave them some words of encouragement, the Lyn players pulled us back level within a minute of the restart. Henrik Lehne Olsen‘s corner delivery was flicked towards goal by Faisal Dahir, but it was Martin Trøen who got the final touch for a debut goal.
Trøen put the Elverum defence under even more pressure in the 62nd minute. Centre-half Simen Olafsen cracked after being closed down by our frontman and played the ball back to Holst in the goal. However, he hit the ball far too hard, and Holst couldn’t stop it sliding into his net! A freak own goal had gifted us a 2-1 lead!
Having constantly attacked our opponents throughout the match, we tried to protect our lead late on. That was a mistake, as Elverum equalised in stoppage time when midfielder Eivind Holte Tøråsen bundled right-winger Feisal Ahmed Hassan’s free-kick into the goal. Lyn left-back Joakim Rishovd – whose foul on Enkerud gave away that set-piece – was rueing that mistake as we went into extra-time.
The first half of extra-time was goalless, but our greater energy would win out in the second. Barely two minutes after play kicked off again, our star performer Marius Østvold curled in a cross that evaded about four Elverum defenders in their six-yard box. It didn’t escape Simen Vedvik, whose finish effectively secured a 3-2 win – and a place in the next round, where we would play…
…Lillestrøm away. Oh boy.
It’s fair to say that a mouth-watering – and potentially lucrative – tie against one of our local rivals from the Eliteserien was something to get very excited about! Before that, though, we had league matters to deal with.
LYN 1896 vs ELVERUM (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 1)
Déjà vu all over again! We started our 2. divisjon campaign just like our Cupen adventure, though I was surprised to see Elverum put up less of a fight this time around. They finished 3rd last season and were predicted to do so again, but it was Lyn who looked much more like promotion contenders.
Trøen got us off the mark in the 5th minute, converting a penalty after Oskar Hansen‘s corner delivery had been handled by Holte Tøråsen. He had another chance to score from 12 yards after just over half an hour, following Stian Lund’s careless sliding tackle on Lars Følstad. Lightning didn’t strike twice for Martin, as Holst produced a fantastic fingertip save.
Before that second penalty, Følstad had doubled our lead with a powerful finish just inside the box in the 26th minute. He found the net again eight minutes later, firing a volley in off the woodwork after a poor defensive clearance from Hassan. That goal was disallowed, though, as Trøen was in an offside position and apparently interfering with play – a controversial call, if I might say so.
We wasted several chances to enhance our lead in the second half, and we could have been punished when Georg Flatgård was on target for Elverum in the 64th minute. Fortunately, Flatgård had run past our defence well ahead of Enkerud’s long ball over the top, and he was caught out by the offside flag. With that, the visitors’ hopes of denying us an opening-day victory were pretty much gone.
ALTA vs LYN 1896 (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 2)
After two straight home victories, we got a reality check at the Finnmarkshallen – the home of second-favourites Alta. Midfielder Håvard Nome scored what proved to be the decisive goal in the fourth minute, thundering in a rebound shot after his initial close-range free-kick had been blocked by Rune Isaksen.
Alta were in control from that point onwards, despite us enjoying more possession. We were at least semi-competitive until the 41st minute, when Dulee Johnson – eager as ever to impress me – lunged in on home winger Peter Aas with both feet. The Liberian midfielder’s adrenaline rush earned him a straight red card and badly weakened us.
After the match, I gave Johnson a formal warning, which he said was “harsh”. Between that and his sceptical remarks when I first took the helm, I think we might have a troublemaker on our hands. Unless he greatly improves his attitude (bear in mind that he’s 34 years old), he won’t be around here for very long.
Playing with only 10 men for the entire second half, we never had much chance of getting back in contention. Though Knut-André Skjærstein kept out a number of promising home shots to keep the scoreline down, we didn’t give Dani Mederos anything to worry about in the opposition goal. No shots on target tells you all you need to know about our impotence.
And so Alta held on for a first league win under the guidance of their new manager – a certain Øyvind Leonhardsen. English fans of a certain age will recall him playing in midfield for Wimbledon, Liverpool, Tottenham and then Aston Villa, but he also spent two seasons at Lyn late in his career.
I’m sure some of you will also recognise the name Frode Kippe, who was at Liverpool from 1998 to 2002. [This 90s kid sure does! The centre-back was such a HUGE success at Anfield that he played in two Worthington Cup matches and was loaned out to Stoke – twice.]
You might be interested to read that Kippe is STILL playing professionally today, at the tender age of 41! In fact, this is his 18th consecutive season at Lillestrøm, where he is club captain! Kippe was named on their substitutes’ bench when we visited the Åråsen Stadion in the Cupen, and although he didn’t play, there was still plenty of excitement ahead…
LILLESTRØM vs LYN 1896 (Cupen – Round 2)
We once again took our opponents to extra-time, but we couldn’t get the job done this time. Nevertheless, it was a valiant performance as we held our own against the side that finished 9th in last year’s Eliteserien.
We saw off several Lillestrøm shots in the first half, including several from striker Thomas Lehne Olsen – Henrik’s big brother. Sadly, the younger Lehne Olsen sibling couldn’t get on the scoresheet either, as Henrik hit the crossbar early in the second period. Mads Pedersen also struck the woodwork, but 16-year-old substitute striker Svein Melfjord struggled to make an impact on his senior debut.
The match was still delicately poised at 0-0 with eight minutes to go in normal time when Lillestrøm were reduced to 10 men. Nigerian midfielder Charles Ezeh’s mistimed tackle on Henrik earned him a second yellow card, and gave us a numerical advantage for what time remained.
Alas, the Kanarifugla (Canaries) made their greater quality count in extra time. With a minute to go until the break, Aleksander Melgalvis sent a right-wing cross into our box that our right-back Eirik Bækkelund could only head on to Marius Amundsen. The Lillestrøm defender slipped the ball across to energetic midfielder Fredrik Krogstad, whose cool finish brought our Cupen run to a cruel end.
LYN 1896 vs RAUFOSS (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 3)
We began May with a welcome return to form, not least for our star striker. In the sixth minute, Hansen delivered a cross that was unconvincingly intercepted by Raufoss midfielder Fredrik Greve Monsen, whom I almost signed in pre-season. One of my actual winter signings took advantaeg, with Trøen heading in his third goal for Lyn.
Our early 1-0 lead was doubled six minutes before half-time. Morten Lyngstad Bjørshol has been with us a bit longer than Trøen (since 2015), but the inside-forward’s long wait for his first senior Lyn goal ended here. A near-post header from Østvold’s cross went in off the underside of the bar to put us 2-0 up.
Another Hansen free-kick inflicted further damage upon Raufoss in the 48th minute, as he curled it around their wall and past keeper Ole Kristian Lauvli for 3-0. The visitors did grab one goal back through their strong Swedish striker Anton Henningsson just over 15 minutes later, but a full comeback was never likely. They suffered a third straight league defeat and hit the bottom, while we climbed up to 4th.
LYN 1896 vs HØNEFOSS (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 4)
Hønefoss were amongst the early pacesetters after starting off with two wins and a draw. They were on course for a third victory after just seven minutes at the Bislett, thanks to a quickfire move that ended with ex-Lyn striker Walid Idrissi drilling a shot in from our ‘D’.
The rest of the match was very closely fought, though HBK were creating chances of better quality than we were. You can thank Skjærstein in goal and Hansen at left-back for keeping their lead down to one goal. You can also thank Oskar for helping to erase it just when the Bastionen were losing hope.
The opposition were defending deep when Hansen put a last-ditch cross into their penalty area. His target was substitute Isaksen, who escaped the defenders’ clutches and provided a close-range tap-in to save us a point. Indeed, a draw was enough to move us up another place to 3rd – one point behind Hønefoss, and three adrift of new leaders Nest-Sotra.
ØRN HOLTEN vs LYN 1896 (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 5)
Now this was frustrating. Yes, Ørn Horten had made a decent start to the season, but they – like us – were promoted from the 3. divisjon last term, and they had been predicted to finish bottom. Going down so tamely against them just wouldn’t do.
I have to admit that experimenting with a narrow 4-4-2 diamond was probably a mistake. So too was throwing Melfjord into the team when the 16-year-old perhaps wasn’t ready to start. Even so, there’s no excuse for some of Svein’s shoddy finishing, nor for a pitiful midfield display.
It was no real surprise when Ørn grabbed the decisive goal in a poor contest six minutes from the end. 30-year-old midfielder Thomas Knutsen – who’d spent his entire career at the Lystlunden – headed in a corner delivery from substitute Simon Bahrami Bjerknes to condemn us to a second league defeat. Combined with other results elsewhere, we slipped all the way from 3rd to 9th.
ROSENBORG 2 vs LYN 1896 (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 6)
I had mixed feelings about our next away result. At the start of the season, I’d have taken a draw against Rosenborg’s second team, who were odds-on favourites for the title. Then they started off by winning just one of their first four games, which made it more painful for us that we twice failed to close out a lead.
We drew first blood in the 12th minute, with Trøen confidently finishing from the penalty spot after Østvold had been pushed by Emil Ceide. Four minutes later, we left RBK’s 19-year-old midfielder Teodor Haltvik criminally unmarked on the edge of the area. Haltvik duly collected a square ball from 16-year-old striker Robin Skrogstad and drove in the equaliser.
Complacency appeared to have set into our defence after our quick start. Thankfully, centre-half Andreas Østeraas pulled himself together to nod in a Johnson corner and reinstate our lead in the 28th minute.
Rosenborg levelled for a second time on 53 minutes. Haltvik turned from scorer to provider, as his cross was powerfully finished by midfield colleague Olaus Skarsem. Had it not been for a couple of late saves from Skjærstein, the hosts could have taken all three points, but the spoils ultimately had to be shared at 2-2.
LYN 1896 vs ASKER (2. divisjon, Avdeling 1 – Match 7)
Back at the Bislett against an inconsistent Asker side, another disappointing result looked to be on the cards after just 10 minutes. A lapse in concentration left visiting striker Papa Sow one-on-one with our keeper, and left our captain Anders Lübeck with no choice but to upend him. Lübeck was booked, and Tobias Collett scored the resultant penalty.
Papa sowed more seeds of despair into our heads on the half-hour mark, teeing up a screamer from left-winger Stian Solberg that put Asker 2-0 up. They even had the ball in the net for a third time after 39 minutes. Left-back Kinny Grewal’s corner was finished by Sow’s powerful header, but it was disallowed after Skjærstein was pushed by Aaron Lee Jones.
It took some stern words at half-time – and a reminder of the Bastionen’s expectations – for us to turn things around in the second period. The fightback began after just two minutes, with a stunning low 20-yard finish from Vedvik.
Then, midway through the period, substitute Trøen burst through Asker’s defence to reach attacking midfielder Adil Zahid‘s long ball from near the touchline. He watched it drop before unleashing a clinical strike to make it 2-2!
With all the momentum now going our way, it seemed inevitable that we would go ahead and snatch victory. Our moment came three minutes from full-time, when Østeraas flicked Pedersen’s far-post corner across the six-yard box for Lübeck to send our fans (all 293 of them) into ecstasy! How fitting that he should go from zero to hero and lead us to such an unexpected victory!
I wasn’t surprised to see Anders graciously give me the credit for our revival. To be honest, though, the team deserves more credit for showing a lot of character in the face of such adversity. I had doubts about certain players’ spirit after three games without a win, so it was great to be proved wrong!
With just over a quarter of the season gone, we’re in 6th place – right in the middle of the pack. We need to show more consistency to get into the promotion picture, and that thrilling fightback over Asker should hopefully be the springboard to future success.
And so an up-and-down chapter ends on a happier note for Lyn and the Bastionen. Can they build up momentum and propel themselves into the top two? Find out next week, when the league campaign heats up in the summer.
“Takk for lesing!”
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