Lyn 1896 are into the second half of their second season in Norway’s second tier. Naturally, they will enter August 2023 sitting in… 7th place.
It’s been another mixed campaign so far for Lyn in the 1. divisjon. Away form has been excellent, but Marit Enstad’s side are really struggling at home. If you read through Part 3, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
This stage of the campaign is when the campaign really heats up, not least because the summer transfer window is about to close. Speaking of that, let’s go straight to Marit, who has news of a departure from the Bislett…
FROM OSLO TO… BERGAMO?!
Hei, det er Marit, and I’ve got a question for you. What would you think if I said that one of Lyn’s goalkeepers had been signed by mid-table Serie A side Atalanta?
Had the Italians scouted Eivind Aalvik and been impressed by the 21-year-old’s assured performances for us in the 1. divisjon? Had they already identified Kasper Morthen as a potential star of the future? Or had they…
Unbelievably… yes.
This really is an odd one. Emil Holst only joined us in January, but after making ONE appearance in the Cupen, he was getting tired of sitting on the bench. I obviously couldn’t do Holst any favours while Aalvik was still playing well, so I was happy to let him join another club for free.
That still doesn’t explain why someone who was playing for Kløfta in the 3. divisjon last season had attracted interest from Atalanta? Not that Emil’s complaining, mind! He probably won’t play much first-team football in Italy, but not many Norwegian semi-pros would reject a full-time Serie A contract and the chance to live in a city like Bergamo, would they?
Holst’s departure means Morthen has been promoted from the youth team to be our new second-choice goalkeeper, aged just 16. Reserve custodian Magnus Høyland – who has been in solid form for Lyn 2 this year – moves back up to third-choice and has been re-registered for the league squad.
On the subject of Morthen, he’s now been added to a mentoring group with Aalvik… and former captain Anders Lübeck. It might confuse you that a central defender is now mentoring our two goalkeepers, but I’ll let Christopher explain what’s going on.
[Here’s the thing. Kasper’s a very exciting talent, but he’s only got 6 Determination and is Unambitious, which might hinder his development later down the line. Both Anders and Eivind have 13 Determination, and their personalities aren’t quite as negative, so getting those two to work closer with Kasper might have a positive influence on him.
This obviously won’t be a long-term thing, as Lübeck’s fairly loyal personality doesn’t suggest that he is particularly ambitious. More importantly, his contract is up at the end of the year, and with his first-team opportunities now limited, he likely won’t earn another. Still, anything that can improve Morthen’s development even slightly is worth trying out.
You might also have noticed that I’ve named this mentoring group ‘Anders Lübeck & The Goalkeepers’, which sounds like a mediocre German rock-and-roll three-piece.]
Takk, Christopher. Now… let’s play Ranheim.
LYN 1896 vs RANHEIM (1. divisjon – Match 18)
What a way to kick off August – and climb back into the top six! To be fair, Ranheim had been slowly dropping down the table since beating us in April. Also, their manager Are Tronseth has been poached by Sarpsborg, leaving his former assistant André Bergdølmo to pick up the pieces in caretaker charge.
We put Ranheim under pressure early on, though we didn’t open the scoring until the 27th minute. A right-wing cross from Markus Frydenlund deflected off players from each team before falling to Mads Sande, who half-volleyed in his fourth goal of the season. His fifth came just before half-time, with a first-time hit from Kot Chol Tafesse‘s pass putting us 2-0 up.
The visitors’ misery continued in the second half, which became the Eirik Haugstad show. Five minutes after the restart, our loyal right-winger latched onto Benjamin Zalo‘s long ball and drilled it across the box for Svein Melfjord to finish.
Though Ranheim occasionally gave Aalvik some work in the Lyn goal, Lars Jendal was by far the busier keeper. He conceded a fourth goal four minutes from full-time, as a perfectly-timed searching pass from Sande found Haugstad, who just kept himself onside to tuck it away.
In by far our most convincing home win this season, Eirik saved the very best for last. After taking the ball in our half, Haugstad dribbled upfield and ran at the defence. Despite briefly being dispossessed by Espen Harrong, he showed great desire to retake the ball and continue his run into the box, where a superb left-footed strike made it 5-0!
That’s a new record for us – seven players in the 1. divisjon Team of the Week. The other four came from Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg, who supplied two each. There was no sign of Melfjord, though…
ARENDAL vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 19)
Super Svein certainly made himself noticed at mid-table Arendal. He scored his 11th goal of the campaign after 28 minutes, thanks to a little stroke of luck. Lyn captain Joackim Olsen Solberg was charging goalwards when he was slide-tackled by Knut Kvam, which diverted the ball towards Melfjord, who lashed it in from 25 yards.
It took Arendal nine minutes to get back level. Preben Skeie’s corner was picked up by veteran centre-half Sune Kiilerich, who turned past a couple of Lyn players before finishing the move.
Then, on the hour mark, we had an opportunity to go 2-1 up after Haugstad was pushed in the Arendal box by left-back Simen Alexander Santos Lyngbø. Up stepped his counterpart Olsen Solberg, who took a confident penalty to get on the scoresheet for the first time this year!
That made for a tense final 30 minutes, in which we came close a few times to either increasing our lead or losing it. Though home keeper Christian Sukke twice kept our substitute forward Niklas Helgesen off the scoresheet late on, our own defence stayed calm to see out another precious victory.
DEADLINE DAY
The summer transfer window closed in midweek, and while recent deadline days had been rather quiet at the Bislett, this one was not. It was time to bid one player farewell, and then welcome back a returning hero…
Fredrik Sannes always looked a little too good for semi-professional football, and I’m afraid we couldn’t keep hold of the talented playmaker for any longer. Several Eliteserien clubs tried to sign Rik late in the window, but only Viking met my €75,000 asking price. They’ll also give us 40% of the profit from a future sale.
Sannes played 36 league matches in his season-and-a-half at Lyn, recording two goals and four assists. His match ratings were never massively high, but his overall consistency and passing accuracy always kept us ticking over.
I didn’t sign a direct replacement, as I felt Reidar Huus – at just a few weeks off his 19th birthday – was now ready to step up. The selfless and skilful midfielder would get a lot more gametime over the coming months as he looked to establish himself as a first-team regular.
Sannes was my new record sale, surpassing the €70,000 I got from Brann for defender Dan Tandberg in 2021. In fact, we would now make another €34,250 in sell-on fees after Tandberg moved to Kongsvinger for… €69,000. While it wasn’t the massive sale we were hoping for, I guess every little helps.
Now, how about I introduce you to our new number 10 – or, should I say, our old new number 10?
Yes, Martin Trøen is back at Lyn! Our 52-goal stalwart from the previous four seasons had been a free agent for eight months while he recovered from that ACL injury he sustained late last year.
No other managers would take a chance on Trøen after such a lengthy injury, but I’m not like many other managers. Having shown me that he was back to fitness, I gave him an initial €150-per-week contract until December, with the option of another year.
While Martin’s pace is clearly not what it was, he’s still very composed in front of goal and has the team-working skills to be a deep-lying forward. That’s something neither Melfjord nor Helgesen have, so he could give our attacks another dimension.
And before I forget… Sarpsborg tried to sign both Helgesen and Frydenlund on deadline day for pitiful money, which I obviously rejected. Niklas and Markus were both disappointed at not being allowed to discuss terms, but Anders and I convinced them to stay here. And it just so happened they would be going to Sarpsborg in the weekend anyway…
SARPSBORG vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 20)
Lyn really were back in business after recording a third win in a row! A fantastic away win over Sarpsborg put us within four points of the 2nd-placed side, and moved us three clear of Levanger in 7th.
That wasn’t to say we didn’t suffer a few scares in the first half. Sarpsborg utility player Jon-Helge Tveita put the ball into our net in the 21st minute, though he was clearly offside when Morten Storaas crossed from the right wing. About eight minutes later, our playmaker Gaute Høberg Vetti pulled his ankle ligaments in a rough tackle from Tobias Heintz, effectively ending his game early.
The score remained 0-0 heading to the midway point of the second half, thanks partly to a couple of excellent saves from Aalvik that kept Særpingene at bay. We then struck against the run of play in the 66th minute, as Andreas Uran‘s long ball sent Melfjord clean through and allowed him to extend his scoring streak to five games.
Melfjord could have scored another goal seven minutes from time, after being upended by Robert Williams’ unangelic tackle just inside Sarpsborg’s box. His penalty certainly sent goalkeeper Aslak Falch the wrong way… but it also flew the wrong side of the post. A horrible miss meant Svein’s 13th goal of the campaign would have to wait another day.
Our number 9 quickly put his disappointment aside to help us confirm victory in the final minute. A Lyn counter-attack really got going when Melfjord played the ball out left to winger Brage Karterud, whose cross Haugstad volleyed in from a tight angle.
LYN 1896 vs JERV (1. divisjon – Match 21)
After our latest away win, we once again struggled at home, only managing a 2-2 draw against second-from-bottom Jerv.
Haugstad had put us ahead in the 10th minute, volleying in a left-wing cross from former Jerv full-back Uran to complete a quickfire counter-attack. We quickly lost focus, though, allowing visiting midfielder Thomas Zernichow to curl in a swift equaliser from just outside our penalty arc.
After a frustrating first period, I replaced the disappointing centre-half Tobias Ødegård with Erik Haugland. I then took off another defender 11 minutes into the second half. A suicidal header from right-back Frydenlund in our box – which Kristoffer Velde intercepted and volleyed home to put Jerv 2-1 up – was totally unacceptable for me.
Frydenlund was subbed, Uran was moved to right-back, and Olsen Solberg came on at left-back. Though the left-footed Uran was now playing on the ‘wrong’ flank, it didn’t seem to affect him too much. Andreas saved us from defeat in the 76th minute, latching onto a Haugland pass and dribbling past two visiting defenders before curling in his first Lyn goal. What a time to score it!
Had it not been for Uran’s leveller, we would have finished August sitting ahead of 7th-placed Levanger – our next opponents – only on goal difference. However, failure to beat Jerv meant we missed the chance to go within two points of the top two. Would that be a costly mistake?
In other news, our former boy wonder Tor Fritzøe Östman finally got his big move abroad. Having torn up the Eliteserien with two goals and six assists for Rosenborg, the 20-year-old right-winger signed for Real Sociedad for an initial €650,000. He will stay in Trondheim on loan for the rest of the year before moving to Spain in 2024.
€650,000. We really could have done with even a small slice of that. Why on Earth was our former chairman happy to sell Tor for just €11,250 four years ago?!
LYN 1896 vs LEVANGER (1. divisjon – Match 22)
It was 6th vs 7th in our next home game, and Levanger would have overtaken us if they had won at the Bislett. They took the lead 21 minutes in, as Oskar Johannes Løken – a contender for the division’s Top Goalscorer award – converted a penalty after being pushed by Uran.
Nine minutes later, though, we were back level. Captain Zalo headed away a corner from Simen Hagbø, and Haugstad took the loose ball up the right flank before crossing to an advancing Melfjord. Svein skilfully took the ball past defender Yusupha Jallow and then stabbed it beyond the on-rushing goalkeeper Simen Lillevik.
We then hit our stride midway through the second half. On 65 minutes, Melfjord drilled in his second goal of the evening from just inside the box after being set up by right-back Dariush Karimirouzbehani. Dariush also set up our third goal four minutes later, when his cross cleared the defence and was finished by Tafesse.
Levanger had never looked comfortable after the break, and they retreated further after falling 3-1 up. Despite that, we managed to put one more goal past them before full-time. Dariush’ 85th-minute corner was nodded against the post by Zalo, whose centre-back partner Haugland hooked in a scrappy rebound.
It had been a very aggressive contest, with us conceding 21 fouls to Levanger’s 14. Nevertheless, we had moved up to 5th place with a fourth win in our last five outings. Only one team had been in an even richer vein of form…
SOGNDAL vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 23)
…and that team was 4th-placed Sogndal, who smashed us to pieces on their way to a SIXTH successive victory. To be fair, we should have seen it coming. Our hosts had taken an incredible 23 points from a possible 27 since Håkon Opdal left Levanger to become their new manager in July.
For most of the first half, we held up well against a Sogndal onslaught, even launching a few counter-attacks that didn’t quite pay off. By the 40th minute, though, things were getting away from us. Winger Markus Aanesland cut out a free-kick from Helgesen and then dribbled all the way to our byline, where he crossed for Henrik Castegren to power in a Zidane-style volley.
We then fell further behind in stoppage time. Sogndal left-back Ole Martin Rindarøy’s deflected cross drew an uncomfortable clearance out of Adil Zahid. The ball fell to the flamboyant Portuguese midfielder Filipe ‘Pipo’ Ferreira, who hammered a shot in off the underside of the bar.
Things got even worse on 54 minutes, when Sander Eng Strand was beaten to an Uran throw-in by the energetic Danish teenager Jan Bonde. The on-loan Brøndby midfielder dribbled into our net and then had two shots blocked by Zalo, with the second being diverted past Aalvik and into the net.
Thankfully, Big Ben’s unlucky own goal marked the end of the scoring. We settled down after that and started to play some good stuff in the closing stages, but it was far too late to avoid a 3-0 defeat that knocked us back down to 6th.
It was election time once again at Lyn, and Patrick Madsen easily won a second term as chairman. I was quite pleased with that, as I get on incredibly well with Patrick. For one thing, he doesn’t sell our best young prospects for ører without trying to negotiate a sell-on clause first!
After his re-election, Patrick told me that he wouldn’t inject any more funds into the club just yet (not that we needed any). Interestingly, though, he said that the board would now like me to start signing young players for the first-team as part of a new club philosophy. You all know that I tend to do that anyway, so that shouldn’t affect my job security too much.
LYN 1896 vs TROMSDALEN (1. divisjon – Match 24)
Then came an unconvincing 2-1 win against Tromsdalen, who were battling for survival. Both teams hit the woodwork in an edgy first half, with Tafesse touching the bar in the 24th minute, before a 43rd-minute volley from Dalen winger Andrius Nymoen clipped the post.
We eventually made the breakthrough just before half-time. Uran did some excellent work at left-back to set up Haugstad, who volleyed in a perfectly-weighted cross for his ninth goal of the campaign.
Taking the lead looked like being decisive, as Tromsdalen hadn’t scored in our previous three clashes… but that would change after an hour. 34-year-old Vegard Lysvoll was Dalen’s record league scorer, and a vicious strike from left-back Sander Floer Kulseng delivered the 148th goal of his long career with the team.
Though Tromsdalen goalkeeper Marius Berntzen made some impressive saves to keep the scores at 1-1 for a while, he couldn’t deny Melfjord in the 71st minute. A cool finish from Tafesse’s through-ball continued Svein’s summer surge and lifted us into 5th again.
ELVERUM vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 25)
Melfjord was much quicker off the mark when we visited surprise high-flyers Elverum. Just 19 seconds after kick-off at Sentralidrettsplassen, Lyn midfielder Jesper Sandberg cut the defence open with a low through-ball to our young poacher. Elias Haug couldn’t quite keep the shot out, and Svein celebrated a very early opener – his NINTH goal in 10 games!
That moment aside, our finishing in the first half was very poor and wasteful. We could be thankful that Elverum were even worse. In fact, the team who’d destroyed Skeid 7-2 away from home just three weeks beforehand couldn’t even get one shot on target all evening long!
We regained the focus after the break, with Melfjord and Sandberg being involved again when we doubled our lead on 57 minutes. Svein had an effort charged down by defender Sturla Opseth, but Jesper was right behind him and drove in the rebound from 25 yards!
That was the moment which killed Elverum’s spirit. After a dominant performance in which we outshot our opponents 22-8 and enjoyed 61% of possession, we not only avenged our 2-0 home defeat to Martin Foyston’s team…
…but we also overtook them in the standings, jumping up to 3rd place! To make things even more exciting, we were only one point off 2nd-placed Tromsø with a better goal difference!
This promises to be a dramatic end to the promotion race, as with five games left to play, only two points separate the teams in 2nd and 7th! One slip-up in the run-in really could make all the difference between going up to the Eliteserien automatically… and missing the play-offs completely!
Another season at Lyn is about to reach a thrilling conclusion. I hope you’ll come back next week to see if Marit and her team can finish strongly – and secure promotion to the Eliteserien.
“Takk for lesing!”
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