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| Promotion hopes hurt again by draw |
Shorn of main striker Conrad Austrheim through injury, Viking North Utsire fought out a a tense but ultimately largely unhelpful 1-1 draw at Number 5 FC last Monday. Baldur Hovland headed them in front after 33 minutes, but just six minutes later Tadeo Beltran levelled for the hosts and that proved to be that.
It meant that VNU and Super Nashwan swapped places between 2nd and 3rd in Division 3d for the fifth week in succession, with Nashwan's somewhat surprise home victory over leaders AFC Crickets putting the latter's title champagne back on ice -- the gap between them slashed to 3 points with two games to play -- and lifting the former back ahead of Viking by a point.
The pair now take on the bottom two, who are both already relegated: Viking host Ozzies Warriors, while Nashwan go to 7th-placed The White Van Clan. So if those games go to form it will all come down to the final day for, most likely, the playoff slot -- unless Crickets get overturned by 4th-placed Wollaston Phoenix at home tomorrow, which would potentially leave the final-day clash between them and the Utsirans with even more hanging on it.
The other wild card is tomorrow's result between Number 5 (5th, appropriately) and Pennywise Floats (6th), who are currently separated by 3 points and 6 goals, where a Floats win will take the battle over the last relegation place down to the last day -- when they will host Nashwan -- but anything else will effectively doom them.
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