Elfsborg-Glentoran 2-1
I will at least try to do a short summary in English, please bear with me!
Ok, before the match we had a meeting with our guests at O'Learys in central Borås and it was an absolute success. At least Guliganerna think so! We recieved a very nice painting of The Oval in Belfast with a plaque with the date of yesterdays game and meeting between fans. We will always treasure this gift and send a big thank you across the Norhern Sea!
The game started fairly poorly, to be honest. I've seen better, but then again I've seen worse too, so you shouldn't believe me too much on that remark. Luckily for the game itself Glentoran got ahead by scoring the first goal. That forced Elfsborg to start playing football. And yes, I would rather be caught dead than to use the word "soccer", either you know about football and how it's played or else, sod off! Hahaha....
Our goalie stood up well today and played a good game overall with plenty of good savings on both freekicks and corners. That honours him! Well, Elfsborg moved forward and tried to get positions further up the pitch, but most of the time they got stuck on Glentoran midfielders or defenders. So when Klarström got the ball on his side we thought that he would stop and turn around. (He often does that...) but no! He moves in to the centre of the pitch and all of a sudden he takes a shot and the ball flies over the Glentoran goalie and we have an equalizer! Wohoo!!! During the rest of the first half there is not too much action, to tell you the truth, but our goalie makes at least three very qualified saves that earned him the "Gordon Banks" award for this game.
Second half sees the same picture as the first one. A rather dull game with little or no "eye-candy" at all. More struggle and basic play from both teams. One fun thing that happened was at one point when Samuel Holmén finally got a freekick for being kicked down for the millionth time 10 metres or so outside the Glentoran box and our players lined up for the freekick. Out of nowhere Joakim Alexandersson sneaks up behind the Glentoran defence and scores a goal very similar to the one he scored at The Oval. This was it, and now there really wasn't much of a game anymore. We're clear for the next round and who knows what will happen there!
Short version:
Not the best game I've ever seen, but I've seen worse! An overall fair result after all.
Crowds:
Our lot were not too bad, but no real big hit, to tell you the truth. We will have to do it better next time!
Glentoran fans basically took over Ryavallen and showed us how it's supposed to be done.
From Guliganerna we can only say this: If you ever want to visit Borås again, don't hesitate to take contact then. We had a great time and I think everyone enjoyed your stay and friendliness towards us. Thank you very much for the very nice painting!
