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Vasilis Birbas passed a late fitness test before our game at home to Västerås SK and so he returned to the lineup in place of Nils Johan Labba. Frank Langseth was drafted in to replace off-form Robert Kjellin and Joakim Bromander got his first start, replacing Joakim Gunillasson.

7.5.2006 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
First Division Game 5: Kiruna (3rd) vs. Västerås SK (5th)
Last meeting: Kiruna 1-1 Västerås SK; overall vs. Västerås SK: 0W-2D-0L
J. Boström; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, F. Soler, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, V. Birbas, J. Gustavsson, M. Jönsson; J. Bromander, M. Svensson (c). Subs: K. Lillebakk, P. Iversen, B. Andersson, P. Bustamente, N. Löfgren

The first half was a story of missed opportunities for both teams. Vasilis Birbas had the first shot of the game but put it over the bar; twice Jonatan Boström was forced into saves by the Västerås attack. Bromander headed over from a Magnus Svensson cross, and that was about as close as Kiruna came during the opening period. Birbas unfortunately aggravated his previous injury just before the whistle and was replaced by Paulo Bustamente.

Kiruna began the second half brightly and there was some meaningful actions relatively quickly. Marcus Jönsson, dribbling along the left flank, had it tackled away from him for a throw-in. Geir Teigen took it swiftly, giving it straight to Jönsson. The winger knocked it back to Teigen first time and watched as the fullback sent in a lovely cross for Joakim Bromander to head home – his first Kiruna goal, 47 minutes in.

Much to the delight of the home crowd, Kiruna regained possession straight away after the kickoff and a move involving Bustamente, Jens Gustavsson, and Svensson ended with the striker being pushed over in the area for a penalty. Teigen promptly ran up to take it – brooking no argument from Gustavsson, who fancied himself a fine shooter – and send the goalie the wrong way to double our lead.

Bustamente was having a good game and ripped off a good shot not too long afterwards that forced a save, but that was the last real effort of the game we could muster. Västerås didn’t have much in the tank either, managing only a good shot from Henrik Jannborg that was well saved by the sprightly young Boström. With a little more than ten minutes left to play, Bustamente went down injured and so Per Øyvind Iversen got to play a little bit of central midfield until time expired.

Kiruna 2-0 Västerås SK
J. Bromander 47’ (G. Teigen); G. Teigen pen 48’ (M. Svensson)
Subs: P. Bustamente for V. Birbas, 45’; P. Iversen for P. Bustamente, 79’
Misc.: J. Bromander, yellow card, 67’; F. Langseth, yellow card, 74’
Man of the Match: Geir Teigen, Kiruna (10 – goal, assist, 9 tackles/3 key)
Att.: 4645
***

Pretty solid win over a team we hadn’t beaten before sees us remain in third place even after the next week’s Saturday games:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Assyriska 5 1 1 0 5 3 3 0 0 10 2 13 2nd Mjällby 5 2 1 0 5 2 2 0 0 5 1 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd ***Kiruna*** 5 3 0 0 7 2 1 1 0 6 5 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Västra Frölunda 6 2 0 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 10 5th Värtan 5 2 0 1 4 3 0 2 0 1 1 8 6th Västerås SK 5 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 8 7th Brage 5 0 2 0 6 6 2 0 1 6 6 8 8th Bunkeflo IF 6 0 2 1 1 2 2 0 1 3 3 8 9th Café Opera 5 1 1 1 4 4 1 0 1 4 4 7 10th GAIS 5 1 1 1 7 6 0 2 0 1 1 6 11th Häcken 5 1 0 1 2 3 0 2 1 3 5 5 12th Sandvikens IF 5 1 1 1 4 4 0 0 2 1 5 4 13th Torslanda 5 1 0 1 6 6 0 0 3 0 4 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th IFK Malmö 5 1 0 1 4 5 0 0 3 7 11 3 15th Brommapojkarna 5 0 1 2 1 4 0 1 1 3 4 2 16th Umeå FC 5 0 0 2 1 4 0 1 2 3 6 1 </pre>

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Bustamente and Birbas were both definite scratches for our next game, which was away to Häcken. Jens Gustavsson was also out, having injured his groin during training, and with Kenneth Haglund nursing an ankle injury our midfield depth would really be tested during this one.

There were two changes to our defense with Björn Andersson and Thomas Johnsen replacing Frank Langseth and Marcus Lindmark, respectively. In the midfield, Runar Knutsen made his debut alongside Nils Johan Labba in the middle. Andreas Nilsson took Bustamente’s spot on the bench on the theory that Marcus Jönsson would be a better midfield “sub” than Ståle Merkesdal.

14.5.2006 at Rambergsvallen, Göteborg
First Division Game 6: Häcken (11th) vs. Kiruna (3rd)
Last meeting: Kiruna 4-1 Häcken (friendly); overall vs. Häcken: 3W-0D-0L
J. Boström; T. Johnsen, F. Soler, B. Andersson, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, N. Labba, R. Knutsen, M. Jönsson; J. Bromander, M. Svensson. Subs: K. Lillebakk, P. Iversen, R. Kjellin, A. Nilsson, N. Löfgren

A tough game that Häcken shaded all along. Our defense played well as a unit and Jonatan Boström was again spectacular but it was increasingly apparent that Runar Knutsen wasn’t up to it during this particular match, and our weak midfield had a hard time competing. Late substitutions were ineffectual and when Niklas Löfgren was injured shortly after coming on for Bromander, we were pretty definitely not going to score. Robert Kjellin came on to play up front in his place, Häcken finally got past Boström after he’d saved five shots a couple minutes later, and we had our first loss of the season – and first-ever defeat against Häcken.

Häcken 1-0 Kiruna
N. Demba-Nyrén 77’
Subs: A. Nilsson for R. Knutsen, 69’; N. Löfgren for J. Bromander, 69’; R. Kjellin for N. Löfgren, 74’
Misc.: M. Svensson, yellow card, 65’; B. Andersson, yellow card, 90’
Man of the Match: Tobias Hysén, Häcken
Att.: 4704
***

We stayed in third, although Brage were now only two points back of us. The showdown at Assyriska in which they took on second-placed Mjällby ended in a 3-3 stalemate – a match from which the visitors were unlucky not to take all three points. At the other end of the table, Umeå FC eked out a 1-0 win over Brommapojkarna to jump above them into 15th place.

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Ståle Merkesdal stepped in for Runar Knutsen during our next game. Playing at home against Mjällby would surely help us learn whether we were serious promotion contenders or just an average team on a hot streak. Assyriska had drawn away at GAIS during a Saturday game, so either of us could leapfrog them into first with a win.

21.5.2006 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
First Division Game 7: Kiruna (3rd) vs. Mjällby (2nd)
Last meeting: -; overall vs. Mjällby: -
J. Boström; T. Johnsen, F. Soler, B. Andersson, G. Teigen; K. Gjesdal, N. Labba, S. Merkesdal, M. Jönsson; J. Bromander, M. Svensson (c). Subs: F. Henriksen, P. Iversen, R. Kjellin, A. Nilsson, J. Tuominen

Mjällby came out attacking and forced a save out of Jonatan Boström 12 minutes in. Shortly afterward, Geir Teigen was called upon to block a shot that would’ve gone in had the studly young Norwegian not been there. And that was pretty much all Mjällby could come up with.

We drove them back into their own half pretty effectively and forced a pair of saves (shots from Gjesdal and Labba) before the period was over. The second half continued the developing trend; Marcus Jönsson had a shot from a free kick saved and also set up a Joakim Bromander header that forced another block from their goalkeeper.

Andreas Nilsson came on for the ineffective Kristian Gjesdal but wasn’t a whole lot better; the only other substitution of the game was forced when Francisco Javier Soler sustained an ankle injury and was replaced by Kjellin. Ståle Merkesdal was playing moderately well and actually got off a fine shot late in the game which was saved; in the dying seconds, Merkesdal set up Magnus Svensson, but the striker was unable to control the ball effectively and it was cleared.

Kiruna 0-0 Mjällby
Subs: A. Nilsson for K. Gjesdal, 78’; R. Kjellin for F. Soler, 88’
Misc.: -
Man of the Match: Geir Teigen, Kiruna (9 – 8 tackles/4 key, 3 intercepted passes)
Att.: 5579
***

It was certainly a good performance against a very good team, in front of the largest home crowd in Kiruna history. Both Mjällby and ourselves stayed stuck behind Assyriska – Mjällby due to goal differential, Kiruna a point off the pace with 14. Brage won, too, and so they were tied up with us on points but in fourth ‘cause of their leaky defense. Even Västra Frölunda and Värtan were in on the action, the former one point behind us and the latter, two.