Greg . 2 days ago

Allsvenskan review: Elfsborg win thriller as Djurgarden thump nine-man Hacken

It is "as you were" at the top of the Allsvenskan table as leaders Mjallby beat Sirius by a one-goal margin to maintain a four-point advantage over Hammarby, who obtained the better of Varnamo by the odd goal.

Meanwhile, there was nothing close in the match between Hacken and Djurgarden, as the Iron Stoves ran out 6-1 winners with two Hacken players shown red cards.

But the most dramatic result of the weekend, if not the entire Allsvenskan season, came on Monday night, as Elfsborg scored twice in added time to beat Goteborg 4-3.

Goteborg made a lightning start to the game and were granted a penalty in the third minute for a foul by Rasmus Wikstrom.

Max Fenger possessed his spot-kick saved, but Tobias Heintz pursued up to put IFK ahead on the rebound.

Before the quarter-hour mark, Fenger atoned for his miss with a delicate complete after running on to Sebastian Clemmensen's through ball to make it 2-0.

Then in the 19th minute, it was Wikstrom's turn to make up for his error, arriving late to pick up a loose ball at the edge of the area and firing low into the bottom corner to halve the deficit.

 However, the two-goal advantage was restored almost immediately, as Elfsborg offered the ball away in their own half, leading to Heintz providing a cross for Saidou Alioum, who led home Goteborg's third.

That was how it stayed until just the hour mark, when Elfsborg brough on Johan Larsson - it was his cross two minutes later which deflected off August Erlingmark and in for an own goal to cut the gap to 3-2.

It wasn't until the 93rd minute when the Boras side levelled the scores, but again it was Larsson who handed over, heading home Simon Hedlund's cross.

 Two minutes later, the remarkable turnaround was complete - and in some style - a hopeful ball into the box wasn't cleared properly by the IFK defence, falling perfectly for Larsson to volley the winning goal with real venom.

Goteborg's inconsistent create sees them drop a place to eighth, while Elfsborg have climbed support in front of GAIS into fifth.

Mjallby maintain lead at the topAt the top of the table, an upset was on the cards down in Hallevik on Sunday when Sirius' prolific Scotsman Robbie Ure was on hand to put them in front, tapping in Victor Svensson's low centre with just seven minutes on the clock.

 That's how things stayed until the shatter, as Mjallby continued to be frustrated.

 But nine minutes into the second half, the leaders obtained their perform together when Herman Johansson laid the ball support for Viktor Gustafsson to sweep home.

 Just over 10 minutes later, the turnaround was complete - substitute Timo Stavitski took just three minutes to make an impact, striking through a crowd after an uncleared corner dropped kindly to him at the support post.

Mjallby's lead is showing no sign of abating after a fourth win in a row, while it's a fourth loss in succession for Sirius, who dropped into the bottom three earlier this weekend.

Hammarby ensured the gap between them and Mjallby did not expand, but possessed to obtain themselves out of trouble against last-placed Varnamo, eventually winning 3-2 away from home.

Things were going according to the create reserve in the fourth minute, when Nahir Besara sent Shaquille Pinas through and he completed with aplomb.

But 30 minutes later, the side with one win all season were ahead.

First, a corner was cleared to Ajdin Zeljkovic at the edge of the area, his strike was obstructed by his own teammate, Johan Rapp, but the rebound dropped to Noah Shamoun, who picked his spot from 18 yards out.

Then, after waves of Hammarby pressure came to nothing, Shamoun stole possession in his own half and ran unopposed into the visitors' penalty area, before drawing the goalkeeper and squaring to Marcus Antonsson to put Varnamo in front in the 32nd minute.

With a quarter of the match to play, Hammarby were given a huge lifeline when Rapp caught Jusef Erabi inside the area, allowing Besara to level the scores from the penalty spot.

10 minutes later, Hammarby grabbed themselves a third goal and all three points when Oscar Johansson's cross was turned in by Erabi, earning the Bajen support-to-support wins and denying Varnamo a famous point, as they remain six points adrift.

 Losing further crushed on the title race were AIK, who were frustrated by relegation-threatened Oster in a 0-0 sketch in Solna.

The visitors gripped their defensive shape well, limiting AIK to long-range efforts in the first half, before they almost won it with six minutes to play, but Noah Soderberg's volley flashed agonisingly wide of the post.

AIK have now picked up one win in their last four Allsvenskan outings and sit 10 points adrift of Mjallby.

Oster remain in the bottom two, but have drawn level with Sirius on 13 points.

Djurgarden recorded the biggest win of the season so far by thrashing Hacken 6-1 on the road in Gothenburg.

The onslaught started with 10 minutes on the clock, as Miro Tenho met Keita Kosugi's free-kick with his lead and powered it in.

Soon after, Hacken afforded Tokmac Nguen too much space on the left, which he exploited by cutting inside and picking out the bottom corner.

It was 3-0 with just 21 minutes played - Hacken were caught in possession high up the pitch and Djurgarden cleared long to Nguen, who raced away and rolled in his second of the game.

There was time for a fourth before the shatter, courtesy of August Priske, who took Nguen's cross out of the sky and managed to compel the ball home from a tight angle.

Hacken's afternoon obtained worse in the 50th minute, when Marius Lode was dismissed for pulling down Priske, denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Eight minutes later, Nguen once again establish Priske unmarked, and he capitalised by firing in number five.

A lovely curling complete from Amor Layouni offered Hacken fans something to briefly smile over, before they were reduced to nine men, as Simon Gustafson was shown his marching orders for shoving Mikael Anderson to the crushed after the whistle possessed gone.

In the 87th minute, Priske turned the ball across goal for Zakaria Sawo to tap home and complete the scoring.

Djurgarden move to seventh after a third win in four, going above Hacken, who lost for the first time in four games.

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