With the Christmas/new year break out of the way it was finally time for some football again. Vikings faced Siam Celtic (SC) the only team to defeat us so far this season – so revenge was in the air.

As usual a strong squad had turned up this Saturday afternoon where the weather could almost be described as cold! The coaching team had finally decided to pair last season’s top scorer and this seasons leading scorer up front. So the lineup looked like this:

Michael; Travis, Graeme, Richard, Breitner; Hallas, Chris, Martin, Lars; Mofok, Jannik.

Subs: Tim, Udom, Mikael, Magnus

Late: Stein

Vikings took control of the game and came to many chances. Mofok had a shot wide and later almost scored with a header. Jannik had a good chance to put the team in front but the SC keeper came out and blocked the effort. As always Martins long throw ins created danger in front of goal and on one occasion a SC defender almost scored an own goal. Graeme went close with a header after a corner kick.

So a lot of early chances but with nothing to show for it. Mofok should probably have broken the deadlock as Jannik’s cross found him alone in front of goal. Unfortunately the header went over the goal. SC was never able to threaten the solid Viking defense and the closest they got to scoring was when Michael had a minor problem with a long ball kicked back to him from a ref throw. Graeme almost made it interesting as his intended pass to Travis became a shot on goal – the Vikings goal that is.

As the teams left for the halftime break it was still goalless.

Second half was not too different from the first with Vikings enjoying the more possession. Lars was doing a lot of running down the left midfield and from time to time he even displayed the famous Brazilian skills – to great frustration for the SC defenders. Vikings finally took the lead as Breitner found Jannik with a good through pass. This time around the SC keeper was not fast enough and the ball went over him and into the net. 1-0.

SC tried to get back into it with some more possession in midfield and one of their players came close with a shot from the left side of the penalty area. Unluckily it was a misunderstanding in the Viking defense that gave SC the equalizer. The ball wasn’t cleared and their striker took advantage. 1-1.

For a while that seemed to be another case of missed opportunities as both Mofok and Chris had chances to put Vikings back in the lead. Also Martin did a run across half of the field but the keeper saved his shot. However with only few minutes left the luck of the Irish ran out. Stein crossed a free kick from left side into the penalty area. The ball took a couple of bounces before landing in front of Mikael who didn’t need to think twice to execute. 2-1.

Last drama of the game was when a SC defender got sent of for a bad foul on Mikael. SC tried with some desperate long balls but with time running out it was a deserved win for the Vikings. Everyone in the team played well, the defense looked really solid and midfield came up with many good crosses. So only thing missing is to convert on all the chances.

Man of the match was Jannik.

Match report by: Jannik