It wasn't until the 80th minute that AIK could secure the season's third win – in the previous round, it was 0–0 at home against Malmö FF – in front of 11,685 spectators at the arena in Växjö.
Then Bersant Celina thundered in a half-volley into the net behind Robin Wallinder in Östermålet to the final result 1–0. With ten points, AIK now leads Allsvenskan.
We are strong enough to fight up there. We finished third last year and why shouldn't we be able to finish better now? says matchwinner Celina to TV company Max.
In the final stages of the match, Öster was close to equalizing, but AIK's national team goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt made a cannon save on a header from Alibek Aliev.
"Maybe scared"
Before that, there was a commotion about the towels that AIK used when the Dane Mads Thychosen dried the ball before his long throws on the offensive half of the pitch. Öster eventually removed the towels that AIK had laid out before the match.
They took away the towels, but it doesn't matter. They're maybe scared. I understand it, said Thychosen to Max.
Öster's central defender Mattias Adolfsson:
He probably wants to go out and wash the ball for his long throws. It takes time and is tiresome, said Adolfsson.
The Solna club's equipment manager walked out from the team's technical area by the sideline to put back the towels, but it ended with him getting a yellow card.
No ban
There is no ban on using towels to dry the ball during throws in Swedish football.
I don't think it's been a central discussion about someone standing and drying the ball before throws, said Svante Samuelsson, sports manager in the elite clubs' interest organization Svensk elitfotboll, to TV4's Fotbollskanalen.
At Grimsta IP, IFK Värnamo suffered their fourth consecutive loss of the season – this despite the Smålanders catching up a 0–2 deficit to 2–2 away against Brommapojkarna. In the first added minute, Kaare Barslund scored 3–2 to BP.
