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5-5 Cup mayhem for Blood Eagles |
Viking South Utsire had to suffer with the most mixed of emotions in their first Division 2b match of the new season this Tuesday. Entertaining FC Sprezzatura at Ragnar Rock, Viking were dominated in the first half and fell behind to a fine 34th-minute strike from Sprezzatura's star striker Asta Tufvander. She would however be stretchered from the field only two minutes later with a career-worst injury, and it would prove her team's only shot of the match.
An emboldened Viking threw the kitchen sink at their visitors in the second half but despite this could not find a way past Tiffany Goram -- who recorded her career-best performance when the two sides met last season. Finally, though, Heidi Hovland made VSU's eighth and final shot pay, breaking Goram's resistance in the 90th minute to snatch a share of the points. All things considered, though, both sides will probably feel like they could and should have got more out of the game.
Goals were not at a premium on Saturday, it is fair to say. Already 4-0 up from the first leg of their Xpert Ladies Cup 1st-round tie against Parkhill Rangers, the Blood Eagles were five up on aggregate when Birgit Austrheim nodded in Tyra Klovning's cross in the 14th minute. After half an hour, however, things got weird.
21-year-old Klovning, entrusted with dead-ball duties in the absence of Birgit's sister Asta, had spurned a couple of direct freekicks to extend the lead when the visitors equalised with their first shot of the match. It felt like déjà vu from Tuesday but did not seem a serious problem -- yet when Rangers scored again two minutes later though it began to look like Viking giving a struggling-for-form Monike Austrheim her first outing of the season between the posts might have been a mistake.
Normality seemed to be restored when Klovning and Austrheim repeated their trick before half-time to square things up again, then soon after the break the former teed up her next freekick for Nina Austrheim to get on the end of and give young Tyra a hat-trick of assists. At the back, however, things promptly went to pot again, with senior hand Britta Klovning seemingly not match-fit after a recent injury and caught out of position time and again. Amazingly the Division 6 side pounced twice more in four minutes to turn the game on its head again, only for Birgit -- who has never scored more than 4 in a whole campaign in 16 previous seasons -- to complete her first ever career hat-trick with a penalty on the hour.
Three Utsiran substitutions, notably senior striker Emilie Klovning coming on with 20 minutes to play, looked set to steady the ship at last, and when Monike parried Carasela Strigoiu's own spot-kick to prevent the visitors retaking the lead at 5-4 the momentum seemed all Viking's. Klovning blew once chance with the clock ticking down but sure enough Nina Austrheim fired them in front for the third time in the 87th minute. Yet there was still time for one more twist in this absurd affair, with Parkhill forward Saara Luikku the one to bury her side's 7th opportunity of the match in the 89th minute to end things in a ludicrous 5-5 draw.
With a league trip to Man City Ladies up next then a tricky-looking Round 2 cup tie against Dav Dolls next weekend, Viking had better tighten things up again and no mistake before they play again -- or it could be a very long season.
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