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| Twin hat-tricks in Cup rout |
Despite his side going down to defeat when he missed the previous week's league game, Viking North Utsire manager VelvetAndroid saw them come within two minutes of going back to the top of Division 1a last Monday. An injury to My-Tee Athletic's top-class keeper Björn Gentner early in the second half lent Viking an opening, which they capitalised on when Xavier Klovning headed them in front just five minutes later. The Norsemen could not see it out, however, a lapse in concentration in the 88th minute enough for the hosts to take advantage and bag an equaliser.
A win would have sent Viking top ahead of last week's conquerors Cardiff Dragons on goal difference. Instead, they drop to 4th. Such has been the peculiarity of results so far, next visitors Wadin Wesslén are in the relegation zone despite not having lost a game -- they are one of three teams to have drawn all three so far -- while the Dragons have lost once yet are top ahead of no fewer than 5 unbeaten teams.
Effortless progress from Round 2 of the Ultimate League Cup was made on Friday, when hapless Your Nans Underwear were slaughtered 7-0 at Dogger Bank for a 13-0 aggregate demolition. Haakon Austrheim set up cousin Viktor Austrheim for the opener after just two minutes, then notched a hat-trick himself by the quarter-hour mark, following which Viktor completed his own trifecta before the break.
Johan Kvalvik buried Viking's only shot of the second half to finish the rout -- his 4th goal of the campaign so far, for a player always backward in coming forward in that sense, who had only scored once in the previous two seasons combined. In fact, it went unremarked at the time, but when Johan scored the third in VNU's 3-0 win over Blazing Gooners on the opening day of the Div 1a campaign it was extraordinarily enough only the 4th league goal the 29-year-old midfielder had ever scored in over 12 seasons at the club. It took him an incredible 9 seasons to notch his first league goals, in Season 48, and he had only managed one more since before this month.
Round 3 will see a significant step up in difficulty, when Div 5:9's Trakor City under their experienced manager Profeten are the opponents over two legs.
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