Egersund 0 Floro 4

POSTNORD-ligaen, avdeling.3, Saturday 6th August 2016

So my latest Norsk adventure took my to Idrettsparken Egersund for a top of the table clash between third placed Egersund and second placed Floro.

The hosts, nine points behind their opponents at kick off time, knew a win only do if they were to have any chance of catching them and also real in the leaders Nest-Sotra, a further point ahead.

A crowd of just under 500 were in attendance, most of them hoping for their home side to no doubt take a win in this one. The first ten minutes yielded very little in the way of goalmouth action though.

However for the next ten to fifteen minutes the hosts began to crank up the pressure and saw a couple of decent chances go abegging but it looked likely that the hosts would break the deadlock if anyone was going to.

But football has a way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it and on 25 minutes it was the visitors who took the lead when centre half Runar Hove rose to head home a corner from close range and silence the home support.

It was totally against the run of play but three minutes later the visitors struck again as Rashed Muhammed danced through a static defence and saw his effort loop over a stranded keeper and into the far corner.

The hosts look shell shocked as did the home fans, who suddenly saw their team two goals behind from nowhere. It left them a mountain to climb in the second half but they knew one goal back would change everything.

To most people's surprise the Egersund onslaught never really materialised at the start of the second period although the hosts were doing most of the pressing, just like the first half, although the visiting backline continued to thwart them.

And then twenty minutes into the half came a moment that summed up the game. Floro centre half Hove saw the keeper off his line and so pinged a wonderful free kick from inside his own half towoards goal and although the surprised keeper pushed the effort back out from underneath his own bar, he could only find striker Endre Kupen who duly bundled home the rebound to give the visiting side three goal cushion.

Despite this the hosts continued to prove the visitors backline, but just could not get their final ball correct. And sure enough with around fifteen minutes to go the visitors made it four when Steffan Aase smashed home brilliantly from range.

The scoreline was harsh on the hosts but it had just been one of those days. Floro had just been clinical when it mattered and kept the hosts out when they were asked too.

Sadly this also means both of my visits to this ground have resulted in home defeats, so I can see a ban coming very soon!!!! This latest defeat almost certainly means the hosts won't catch the top two now whilst for Floro their title charge and promotion to the second tier remains very much on.