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| Viking await top-flight debut |
After time for just two preseason friendly games, Viking North Utsire's opportunity to really start bricking it ahead of their top-tier Ultimate League debut is perhaps thankfully set to be severely curtailed thanks to this weekend's revamp of the league's structure. The removal of Division 7 means that a mere eight teams from the newly slimmed-down league cohort of 1016 will get a bye through the first round of this season's Cup, instead of the customary hundreds; so Viking are set to be pitched right back into competitive action as soon as this coming Friday when they enter Round 1 for the first time in living memory. Their opponents, admittedly, will be Division 6 outfit In The Stone, whose manager "has not shown up yet", which could make the preparations a little tricky but the match perhaps not so much.
It is, meanwhile, only six days since North Utsire completed their successful debut Division 1 campaign by lifting the Div 1a trophy at The Owls Arena last Monday, where they defeated the young Aardvark Owl(et)s by 5-0 to end an unexpectedly triumphant season the exact same way they started it. Young Magnus Hovland opened the scoring with his 4th of the term, Gunnar Kvalvik netted a freekick for only his second ever goal on his 102nd appearance, then record scorer Kent-Arne Fridholm thumped home his 171st all-time and 15th of the season. Fellow veteran Clive Whittingham brought cheers from the away end when he very belatedly headed his first goal in months to -- at the eleventh hour -- maintain his streak of scoring in fifteen successive campaigns, before the Norsemen went into cruise control after the break. There was still opportunity though for David Austrheim to increase his personal best season's tally to a final total of thirteen, perfectly bookending a campaign he'd kicked off with Viking's opener ten minutes into the reverse fixture right back on New Year's Day.
The close season has brought the sad but not unexpected news that 35-year-old midfield general Whittingham will bring the curtain down on his career after his forthcoming 19th and last season with the club. With 304 appearances under his belt he has only two games fewer to his name than Fridholm, and only longterm colleague Ilie Colibã still sits out in front on 338.
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2018-04-10 18:55
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1113 Views |
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Reporter:
Gago_94
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