Lyn On Me: Season 5, Part 5

As summer turns into autumn, the 2023 Norwegian football is nearing its thrilling conclusion. Lyn 1896 are once again in pursuit of promotion from the 1. divisjon, but there’s still lots of work to do if they are to reach the promised land of the Eliteserien.

Feel free to catch up on Part 4 if you haven’t already. Once you’re ready, get yourself comfortable, because this is THE longest chapter in the Lyn story so far (at over 3,400 words long). Make of that what you will.

Okay, Marit Enstad… it’s down to you now.

THE FINAL FIVE

Hei, det er Marit, and we’re all set for another nail-biting 1. divisjon season finale at Lyn. There are five games remaining, and we’re only one point behind the top two… but we’re also only one point clear of 7th place.

Things are so tight in the top half that I don’t think anybody knows who’ll be promoted to the Eliteserien, who’ll make the play-offs, and who’ll miss out completely. I’d be better off predicting the Lotto numbers rather than predicting where we’ll finish!

Our run-in starts at the Bislett against relegation-threatened Mjøndalen, which is followed by a trip to 8th-placed Skeid, who both score and concede plenty of goals. A fortnight after that, we’ll play our final away game against another mid-table team in Åsane.

After having the final week of October off, we’ll finish the regular season with two home games that could be very important at both ends of the table. Second-from-bottom Alta have the fewest goals and the worst recent form in the division, but they spoiled our automatic promotion hopes last year and could do so again. Then there’s Bryne, who will also do everything they can to avoid relegation to the 2. divisjon.

LYN 1896 vs MJØNDALEN (1. divisjon – Match 26)

Our run-in began at home to Mjøndalen, who’d won three matches since May and were stuck at the bottom of the table. But for a late miracle, they would soon be out of the top two divisions for the first time since 2008.

It took about half an hour for things to really get going. A 36th-minute header from Kot Chol Tafesse was well saved by Mjøndalen keeper Jesper Granlund, whose team-mate Kornelius Hansen then hit our post three minutes later.

By the final minute of the first half, though, we had edged ahead. Tafesse’s cross into the six-yard box was poked away by visiting winger Henrik Gulden… but only to our attacking midfielder Adil Zahid, who powered in his first goal this year!

Things then got feisty in the second half, as the referee handed out three yellow cards. The last of them, in the 60th minute, was to our teenage midfielder Reidar Huus for an off-the-ball trip on Hansen. Though Eivind Aalvik saved Gulden’s subsequent free-kick, the resolute Mjøndalen midfielder Didrik Fredriksen scored from the rebound.

‘De Brune’ were level, and for most of the remaining time, they looked the likeliest team to win. Luckily for us, Aalvik produced several important saves before Gulden blazed a sitter over in the 89th minute. We eventually held on for a draw in a tricky match that we could’ve lost.

Those dropped points weren’t as costly as they could’ve been. 2nd-placed Tromsø and 4th-placed Elverum were in a 0-0 stalemate, while Fredrikstad and Levanger also drew their matches, and Sarpsborg lost 1-0 at Jerv. Even so, I was disappointed at not getting a win that would’ve moved us into the top two.

Though Sogndal were pulling clear at the top, things were becoming even more congested below them. A four-game winning streak had lifted Skeid into 8th place – just three points off Tromsø.

SKEID vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 27)

We couldn’t have wished for a worse start. Skeid went ahead after only 40 seconds, when Jon Tveit Rønning’s left-wing cross deflected off Lyn defender Tobias Ødegård and found the net. This was Tobias’ first match back since sitting out the last five, and after that own goal, he was probably wishing I hadn’t selected him!

Skeid were clearly showing more fight than us, collecting four bookings before half-time. They also collected a second goal from their first official shot on target – a 43rd-minute piledriver by their former Lillestrøm striker Tveit Rønning.

We were 2-0 down, and heading out of the top six as results stood. When the players returned to the dressing room at half-time, I kept their spirits up by telling them they weren’t playing that badly and were unlucky to be behind. I also switched from the counter-attacking 4-3-3 system to the more positive 4-2-3-1 we usually play at home.

Then came eight extraordinary minutes in the career of Kot Chol Tafesse:

46:05 – As we take the game to Skeid with some silky high-tempo passing, Dariush Karimirouzbehani swings the ball across their box for Tafesse to volley in. Skeid 2, Lyn 1.
47:46 – Zahid shoots from a tight angle, and keeper Emil Fiskvik can only push the ball on to Tafesse, who has a clear goal to score in. Skeid 2, Lyn 2.
50:01 – Skeid are all over the place as we hit them on the counter. Svein Melfjord’s cross deflects off a defender and towards Zahid, who threads it into the box for Tafesse to complete a four-minute hat-trick! Skeid 2, Lyn 3!
52:21 – Tafesse is barged off the ball by Skeid midfielder Hassan Mohamed Yusuf and goes down hurt, clutching his ribs. Kot Chol’s game is over as he is substituted for Martin Trøen.

The Oksene really didn’t know what had hit them in that extraordinary Lyn fightback. Their frustrations only grew later on when Aalvik made two strong point-blank saves to stop Tveit Rønning and substitute midfielder Mohamed Brighal from equalising.

Then we dealt the killer blow four minutes from half-time. After catching a loose cross from Skeid winger Dag Horn, Aalvik punted the ball up the pitch for Zahid, who got past his marker and powered in a magnificent finish. From 2-0 down at half-time, we had won 4-2!

That victory kept us in 3rd place and moved us four points clear of Fredrikstad, who had slipped out of the top six after losing 2-1 at Elverum. There were also victories for Tromsø (3-1 at Mjøndalen), Levanger (2-0 vs Jerv) and Sarpsborg (1-0 vs Bryne).

We stayed one point behind Tromsø with three games to play… but we had to play those final three games without Tafesse, who’d broken his ribs. He was also unlikely to be fit for any potential play-off matches. We now really needed young Niklas Helgesen to step up in Kot Chol’s absence.

ÅSANE vs LYN 1896 (1. divisjon – Match 28)

We played our final away match of the regular season at mid-table Åsane, who still had a slim chance of making the play-offs. They’d lost their last two games, though, and were facing a third straight defeat after just 10 minutes. Zahid tidily tucked away a pass from Dariush to put us ahead…

…if only for a couple of minutes. Though Benjamin Zalo cleared Åsane midfielder Tomas Kristoffersen’s corner out of our area, he couldn’t intercept the follow-up cross from Finnish winger Tuomas Lindberg. That allowed Filip Brattbakk to head in a cool equalising finish which would’ve made Harald proud.

From that point, the hosts dominated. Lindberg hit our crossbar in the 17th minute, and he and his team-mates regularly tested Aalvik later in the first half. Eivind was up to the challenge, making four good saves to keep us level at the break.

Melfjord could have put us 2-1 up six minutes into the second period. However, after receiving an excellent through-ball from Helgesen, he could only fire a great opportunity straight at Åsane’s Anglo-Norwegian keeper Borger Thomas.

Svein’s miss was costly, but Eivind’s heroics at the other end limited the damage. He continued to excel in the Lyn goal, keeping out everything the home team threw at him. Zalo also did his bit by making several strong interceptions as we survived the onslaught and saved a point.

We remained one point adrift of 2nd-placed Tromsø, who’d also drawn 1-1 away from home – at Alta. However, Levanger beat Bryne 3-0 to leapfrog ahead of us into 3rd. Meanwhile, leaders Sogndal finally slipped up after conceding an injury-time winner to Sarpsborg, who climbed another place.

October ended with Tafesse being named 1. divisjon Player of the Month, largely because of his second-half hat-trick at Skeid. It had also been an impressive month from Zahid, who took 3rd place.

LYN 1896 vs ALTA (1. divisjon – Match 29)

Last year, we drew our penultimate home game of the season against Alta – a result that arguably cost us automatic promotion. Would history repeat itself when Julian Madsen’s relegation-threatened side travelled to the Bislett?

After 13 minutes, it looked like the answer to that question would be, “Ja.” Zalo had been pushed in Alta’s area by right-back Runar Overvik, prompting the referee to award a penalty. Despite screwing his last spot-kick wide, Melfjord stepped forward again… and hit another poor shot that Dani Mederos pushed wide.

I was feeling frustrated again five minutes later. Gaute Høberg Vetti chipped a free-kick into the area, where Zalo’s header was parried by Mederos before Haugstad half-volleyed in the rebound. Sadly, Eirik was offside, so the goal didn’t count.

That was the only time Mederos had to pick the ball out of his net. He was sensational in the Alta goal, saving all 10 of our shots on target. We tried almost everything in our pursuit of a breakthrough, but when the opposing keeper is in such great form, you have to applaud him.

Luckily, the visiting attackers weren’t quite up to the same standard. Aalvik only had to make one save – from Anders Nygaard’s second-half free-kick – as all the other shots we faced were either blocked or fired wide. Come full-time, the deadlock was still intact.

That was annoying, especially as Tromsø and Levanger had lost to Skeid and Sarpsborg respectively, meaning that we went back ahead of both teams on goal difference. Sarpsborg’s win meant they now occupied 2nd spot by two points, while Sogndal’s promotion was confirmed, even though they were beaten 1-0 at Jerv.

That meant we would secure a play-off place at worst by winning our final game at home to Bryne, who themselves needed maximum points to have a chance of avoiding relegation. If we did win, and Sarpsborg failed to do the same at home to 11th-placed Tromsdalen, Lyn 1896 would be promoted automatically to the Eliteserien.

Tromsø, Levanger and Elverum were also in positions where they could get promoted, qualify for the play-offs, or even finish outside the top six. Fredrikstad’s play-off hopes were out of their hands, and Skeid needed a miracle.

Unfortunately, Huus wouldn’t be involved against Bryne after twisting his ankle in training. A promising season in which the teenage midfielder had made 15 league appearances was basically over.

LYN 1896 vs BRYNE (1. divisjon – Match 30)

Even as one of our younger first-teamers, Helgesen was determined enough to try and rally his team-mates before our final regular-season game. I was rather more reserved, telling them to concentrate on beating Bryne and worry about the Sarpsborg/Tromsdalen result later.

Most of the players agreed with my pep talk. The only two who felt I should’ve been more ambitious were defensive midfielder Sander Eng Strand… and Martin Trøen. That was worrying, seeing as I’d gambled on starting Trøen up front because of his love for big games. The out-of-form Melfjord dropped out of my starting XI for the first time since April.

We made the perfect start, taking the lead through Zalo’s header from a Zahid corner after just eight minutes. Even at this early stage of the final day, we were on course to finish 2nd and claim automatic promotion…

…until Bryne equalised four minutes later. Zalo wasn’t quite quick enough to beat Henrik André Lauritsen to Chris Sleveland’s through-ball, and the 19-year-old striker tapped it into the net to drop us back to 3rd.

Midway through the first half, as Trøen and co struggled to retake the lead for us, we heard that the deadlock had been broken at Sarpsborg. Unfortunately, it was the home team who’d taken the lead through striker Christer Hågensen. If they stayed ahead, they would be automatically promoted, no matter what we did.

The situation didn’t change again until seven minutes into the second half, when things got interesting at the Bislett again. Helgesen slipped a clever low pass through the Bryne defence and towards Trøen, whose typically calm finish delighted the Bastionen! Martin’s 53rd goal for Lyn – his first in over a year – had given us fresh hope at 2-1 up.

We now badly needed Tromsdalen to equalise. Eight minutes later, though, news came through that Hågensen had scored against them again. Sarpsborg were now 2-0 ahead, and only a shocking collapse would deny them promotion.

Though our automatic promotion hopes were slipping away, we tried to keep our focus on our game. We were denied a third goal in the 76th minute, when a shot from left-back Andreas Uran deflected in off an offside Trøen.

Then, in the 84th minute, the Bastionen rejoiced for another home favourite. Making just his fifth league appearance of the season (and possibly his final one for Lyn), former captain Anders Lübeck came off the bench to flick Zahid’s corner in at the near post for 3-1!

The full-time whistle spelled doom for Bryne, who were relegated to the 2. divisjon. Now we waited to see if we’d done enough to escape the 1. divisjon through another route.

We hadn’t. Sarpsborg saw out a 2-0 win to secure not just promotion, but also the league title. Former leaders Sogndal had suffered a third straight defeat, losing 4-1 to a Levanger side who were joined in the play-offs by us, Tromsø and Fredrikstad. Elverum and Skeid both missed out on goal difference.

So… 3rd place again, and the play-offs again. We would host Fredrikstad in the first Semi Final, with Levanger facing Tromsø in the other. Whoever won those Semis would meet in the Final, with a place in a two-legged Promotion/Relegation Playoff against the third-worst Eliteserien side up for grabs.

LYN 1896 vs FREDRIKSTAD (1. divisjon – Playoff Semi Final)

A week later, we found ourselves in another Playoff Semi Final, hoping to go one stage further than last year. The bookmakers made us favourites to beat Fredrikstad, who – despite winning just one of their last nine matches – had just snuck into 6th. Mind you, they had beaten us home and away earlier this term.

The Aristokraten’s big problem was that they’d drawn far too many matches – 16 out of 30, in fact. On the other hand, they were the toughest team to beat in the division. Only three teams had done so, but it was interesting to me that the last two – Levanger and Elverum – both played direct football to bypass Finn Morten Moe’s five-man midfield.

With that in mind, we started this home game using our ‘away’ system – the counter-attacking 4-3-3. That almost backfired in the first minute, when a very early Fredrikstad attack ended with our old nemesis Lasse Sigurdsen firing an angled shot against the far post.

By the 16th minute, though, we had clicked into gear. Zahid produced one of his typical incisive passes into the visiting box for Helgesen, who squared it across for Melfjord to comfortably finish.

Aalvik kept us ahead late in the first half by saving a couple of headers headers from Asle Bjelland and Kristian Nordheim. Then, in stoppage time, Thomas Fagervik’s clumsy tackle on Uran gave us the chance to go 2-0 up from the penalty spot. Melfjord had missed his last two penalties, so Helgesen took this one… but he was denied by goalkeeper Andre Johansen.

Our 1-0 half-time lead looked fragile at times in the second half, but Fredrikstad wasted several equalising opportunities. They were clearly missing the cool finishing of Croatian striker Marko Vranjkovic, who had broken his leg in our last meeting back in July.

Things got even worse for the Aristokraten after exactly 73 minutes, when Helgesen’s dribble into their box was halted by a needless shove from centre-back Bjelland. We were given a SECOND penalty, which substitute midfielder Mads Sande took this time. Unlike Niklas, Mads put his penalty past Johansen’s reach and into the top corner.

Helgesen gave Bjelland more hell in the 77th minute, pouncing on a poor headed clearance before cutting inside and putting us 3-0 ahead. The 20-year-old striker then struck again just before full-time, driving in Markus Frydenlund‘s through-ball to complete a 4-0 rout!

We had banished the demons of last year and sailed into the next round of the play-offs. A week later, we would host a Playoff Final against 4th-placed Levanger, who eventually beat Tromsø 5-2 after their star striker Oskar Johannes Løken scored FOUR extra-time goals.

When it came to the Goal of the Week award, Helgesen’s two goals trumped Løken’s four. The first of Niklas’ late stunners took the main prize, while his later effort came in 3rd.

And in other news, we made around €100,000 through gate receipts – more than double what we recouped in last year’s Playoff Semi. The official attendance at the Bislett was 6,465 – a record for my Lyn reign, even if 5,000 of those spectators had come from Fredrikstad.

LYN 1896 vs LEVANGER (1. divisjon – Playoff Final)

Despite drawing a bumper crowd against Fredrikstad, only 2,002 fans turned up for the Playoff Final against Levanger… but Lyn fans outnumbered visiting supporters by about 3:1. We wanted the Bastionen to be at their loudest to inspire us to a victory that would put us within two games of promotion.

We warmed our fans’ hearts early on at a snowy Bislett, going ahead after 10 minutes. Jesper Sandberg might not have even made the squad against Fredrikstad, but the energetic midfielder scored on his return to our starting XI, converting a deflected cross from Uran.

Now… in recent games, we’d had problems staying focussed after scoring early goals. Just two minutes we took the lead, Levanger left-back Simen Hagbø crossed to an unmarked Andreas Lykke Strand in our box. Although Lykke Strand’s first shot was parried by Aalvik, the winger scored at the second attempt, and it was 1-1.

The match was delicately poised for the next half-hour, until the third goal arrived two minutes from half-time. After collecting a short pass from Haugstad 25 yards from the Levanger goal, Melfjord controlled the ball, turned 90 degrees, and floated a stunning strike bang into Simen Lillevik’s top-right corner!

Svein even found just enough time before the break to score again. He got behind defender Halvor Michaelsen unnoticed to reach a stunning cross from Haugstad and volley us into a 3-1 half-time lead!

Our attacking partnership combined again early in the second half to put us in complete control. Haugstad delicately weighted a pass to Melfjord on the edge of the box, and although defender Halvor Hovstad almost took the ball at the last minute, our striker’s low shot trickled into the net. Svein’s 20th goal of the season gave him his first Lyn hat-trick, and also provided Eirik with a treble of assists!

Levanger’s spirit had been broken, and all that was left for us to do was to complete a five-goal demolition. Hovstad blocked Melfjord’s 86th-minute volley to deny him a quadruple, but who was there to pick up the rebound? Why, it was substitute Martin Trøen, with the 54th – and probably easiest – goal of his Lyn career!

Løken did have the final say for Levanger in the penultimate minute, curling home his 23rd goal this year. That reduced our winning margin to 5-2 – not that it really mattered. We had won the 1. divisjon play-offs and were now on the cusp of promotion!

Only a two-legged Promotion/Relegation Playoff with the 14th-placed team in the Eliteserien stands between us and a place in the top flight. We now await the final round of Eliteserien matches to see who we will face out of Lillestrøm, Sandefjord and Viking. Come to think of it, when is that final round?

WHAT?! The Eliteserien season doesn’t end for another fortnight? We have to wait until the middle of December for the two biggest matches of our season?

[Sigh] Alright. I guess we’ll see you again later…

And so the 2023 season continues for one more chapter! Please come back soon for Part 6, where Lyn will play two more matches in the Promotion/Relegation Playoff. Are they bound for the Eliteserien, or will there be yet another sad tale of post-season heartbreak on Fuller FM?

Wednesday 4 September, 8:00am BST. You won’t want to miss it.

“Takk for lesing!”