The conditions were crystal clear. Points loss for Hammarby and the SM gold ended up in Mjällby's possession.
Prior to the match at Gamla Ullevi, Hammarby was also forced to make several changes to the starting eleven, due to illness. It did not prevent the team from making a strong start against "Blåvitt".
Already after three minutes, the home crowd fell silent. The former Blåvitt player Paulos Abraham received the ball after a counterattack, twisted his body and elegantly placed 1–0 in the far corner behind Elis Bishesari.
The lead goal held until the break in a match that was very even.
Many duels. A fairly difficult pitch to play on. Hammarby kicks a lot long balls at us, we try to push them down and get to quite a few half-chances, but need to create more clear scoring opportunities, said IFK Göteborg's Gustav Svensson to HBO Max at halftime.
”Full control”
Shortly after the break, Hammarby extended their lead to 2–0. Abraham became a two-goal scorer when he opportunistically stayed up front and pushed in a cross.
IFK Göteborg reduced the lead with about ten minutes left, but did not get any closer. Hammarby thus grabbed the last straw for a possible SM gold in the fall. That there is still a chance is, however, nothing the team captain Nahir Besara wants to think about.
No, Mjällby is so many points ahead of us. It's hard to focus on Mjällby, he says.
Besara was, however, very pleased with the team's performance.
Many usually call us "fine Bajen" and that we always need to have a good plan. But I think we proved many wrong that we can play on grass too. It feels like we had full control.
"Played like adults”
Goalkeeper Warner Hahn is on the same track.
We played like adults today. It was a tough match, we didn't play like we want to play. But it was a match where we had to fight for the points and we did, he says and continues:
Very important. A much-needed win to try to secure second place.
Mjällby tops the Allsvenskan table with 63 points. Hammarby has 52. There are four rounds left to play.
