Last time he was at Bravida Arena, it was as a Häcken player.
Therefore, the return gave a strange feeling, says Blair Turgott after the win against his former teammates.
The attacking veteran was substituted in the second half – and left the pitch as a match hero.
It's been a tough time for me, but it's football, it can change quickly. I'm just happy to be able to help the team, it was an important win at this time of the season, he says.
Blair Turgott was in Häcken for two years. A time when the Hisings club secured its first Swedish Championship gold, but also a time when the English-Jamaican suffered a cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of football for the entire season last year.
"The dark side"
Blair Turgott and his family still live in Gothenburg. But when the contract expired in the spring, he became a Halmstad player instead.
Winning the league with Häcken in 2022 was fantastic. Then I got a cruciate ligament injury in the preseason and missed the whole year, he says.
So you get the fantastic side of football, then you get the dark side of football as well.
Before the away match against the old gang, there had been no goals for the 30-year-old, who had also struggled to get more playing time. But when the goal finally came, it was all the more important.
You have to trust the process and days like today cement the hard work, he says.
I hope this becomes a lesson, for example for young people or others who are going through something.
"No style points"
His 1–0 goal – the only goal of the match – gave Halmstad three extremely important points with two rounds left of Allsvenskan.
The team has two tough matches left – Djurgården and AIK – but can now hold on to Allsvenskan on their own strength after two straight wins
We don't get any style points, but that wasn't what we were here for, it was points in the table, says coach Johan Lindholm.
The relegation battle is very much alive with several teams involved. We need to recharge and take care of Djurgården at home in the next one. But hopefully, this will strengthen us.
