Vissefjärda GIF v Söderåkra AIK, Swedish tier 8

A very chilly spring evening with hail showers mixed with sunshine. I headed inland to the village of Vissefjärda, famous for its idyllic church by the lakeside and birthplace of the great Swedish jazz sax player Lars Gullin and the legendary medieval rebel leader Nils Dacke who lead an army of local peasants in a revolt against the crown in the 1540s only to be defeated and killed.

Vissefjärda GIF was founded in 1929 by a group of local lads who wanted a field in the village to play football as well as other sports. The club, like many in Sweden, has over the years has offered a variety of sports including athletics, skiing and bandy (like field hockey but played on ice on a rink the size of a football field). Today the club offers football, tennis and gymnastics.

See location on map.

The ground

Widavallen has an embarkment on one side with a fence and long benches for spectators at the top. There is a pavillion and clubhouse that includes the all-important kiosk. The kiosk did brisk trade offering sausages or burgers from the barbeque and a nice touch was that the entry ticket (40 kronor, £3.10) entitled you to a free coffee or tea. Given the cold conditions this was extremely welcome. There are no other structures on the other sides of the ground and the players changed in a school just beside the ground. No programme but the speaker kept us up to date with scorers, bookings etc.

The match

Vissefjärda have started the season with an away win whereas this was Söderåkra's first league game of the new season. Vissefjärda played in red and white stripes whilst the visitors were in all blue kits. The first half hour of the game belonged to the home side who had several chances including a corner that swung in to hit the bar. Then, as so often happens, the away team took a surprise lead after a free kick from the left was headed in from close in by burly forward Anton Johnsson. It got worse for the home fans 7 minutes later when a cross from the right was swept home by Oscar Kennemar. Sleeves were then rolled up (at least metaphorically) and Vissefjärda battled to get back into the game. They did so in style with two quick goals in the last five minutes of the half by two hard-working players, Max Welander and Samuel Häggbring. So all square at the break.

The second half saw the home team pushing for the lead but Söderåkra also had their chances, often on breakaways. A home player got sent off for dissent and then pushing the referee and Vissefjärda seemed to have thrown their chance away. But then after 71 minutes a lovely shot from Malte Svensson gave them the lead. They looked like holding on but a spectacular shot from outside the box by Söderåkra's Emil Gustavsson tied things up at 3-3. Entertaining stuff indeed but I was glöad to get back to the car to warm up.

Final score: Vissefjärda GIF 3 Söderåkra AIK 3
Crowd: 102