Ljungbyholms GoIF v Trekantens IF, Sweden tier 8

The shortest football journey I can make this evening - a walk of 10 minutes to the home of the local team, Ljungbyholms IF, and a derby match against near neighbours Trekantens IF in division 6 Kalmar/Öland, tier 8 in the Swedish pyramid. I saw Trekanten only a few weeks ago but I haven't seen Ljungbyholm for over a year - too busy going everywhere else I suppose.

Ljungbyholm is a village of almost 2,000 inhabitants about 14 km south of Kalmar. The club was founded in 1938 and has today teams in both football and floorball for all ages. There is a good history of the club on their site, just use your translate button if you can't read Swedish. Back in the fities they played in the fourth tier and had crowds of 1,500 - 2,000 for some matches against bigger teams. I wonder if they had more spectator facilities then. Those glory days are gone and in recent years the club has been in the basement of local football but hoping that this season will see a change of fortunes.

Ljungbyholm have had a mixed start to the season and are in 5th position with 7 points from 5 games whilst the visitors are undefeated in top position with 14 points from 6 games. An interesting feature of games at this level in Sweden is that there are two referees on the field and noone on the lines. This seems a better solution than in the Scottish lower league games I've seen (like the one at Ormiston a couple of weeks ago) where one referee has to do everything.

See location on map.

The ground

Fruskogsvallen is another tidy and very attractive place to watch football. The grass is in perfect condition and that is a challenge these days in the extremely dry climate we have here in the summer. Like many lower league grounds round here it is surrounded by trees. At one end there is the entrance, clubhouse and kiosk. The only structures on the sidelines are one small wooden uncovered scaffolding stand and the dugouts. However there are also plenty benches to sit on. No programme and sadly no speaker either so I have had to check the players' names afterwards.

The match

Ljungbyholms GoIF 3 Trekantens IF 2
Crowd count. 65 ( my unofficial headcount)

Ljungbyholm in white and Trekanten in blue

A tough and entertaining encounter with goals, a missed penalty, two red cards and a lovely sunny evening.  The guests took the initiative right from the start and went ahead after only 3 minutes when Fabian Dervå Lindqvist recieved a lovely through ball and slotted the ball past the keeper. The lead didn't last so long and a corner on the left was met by a lovely header from the tall Max Ingner to put Ljungbyholm on level terms. Two minutes later there was further joy for the home crowd when William Andersson found himself alone on the left and fired a shot past the keeper to make the score
2-1. Trekanten pressed for an equaliser and got it with another goal from the dangerous Fabian Dervå Lindqvist after a couple of blocked shots. The guests could have gone to the break with a lead if Eric Bergzén had managed to convert a penalty kick after Fabian Dervå Lindqvist had been tripped in the box. His penalty shot hit the bar and at the break the score was 2-2.

The second half started with a goal and this time it was the home team who took the lead thanks to William Andersson who fired home from the left side of the box. That proved to be the end of the scoring but there were several chances at both ends and both keepers had to make important saves. Thinsgs got a bit tense towards the end and the red card was shown to Trekantens goal scorer Lindqvist after a rash challenge and then a few minutes later Ljungbyholm's Kasper Johansson got a double yellow and off. But the home side held out and deserved the three points in the end.