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I felt that the next match provided an excellent opportunity to get another win, as we prepared to take on Assi on the road. Gimonäs were faced with a tough visit to Söderhamn and so it wasn’t too far-fetched to think that we could be back in first place after Sunday’s games.

9.5.2004 at Nya Assi-vallen, Risögrund
Second Division North Game 6: Assi (12th) vs. Kiruna (2nd)
Last meeting: - ; overall vs. Assi: -
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, J. Engström, P. Asp

It’s often difficult to draw conclusions about teams that are in low league positions. You never know if teams that have just a couple of wins are really just talented sides that are underperforming or if they’re just bad teams that are in over their heads. Teams like Assi, though – ones that have spectacularly poor results in the league – are almost invariably the hardest-working sides in a division. They’ll do their damndest, but things just never fall their way, and back they fall to whence they came.

They actually didn’t look too overmatched at the start of our game, for about five minutes or so. After that, our greater quality told, and first-half goals from Nils Johan Labba and Juha Tuominen combined with second-half strikes from Tuominen and Lantto to give us a 4-0 win. Assi never stopped trying all game, though, didn’t give in until the final whistle blew and 1200 supporters stood and applauded their team’s efforts.

I didn’t want them to relegate. They really tried, and I admired them for it. Sucks that they re-injured Marcus Lindmark, though. Son of a gun strained his groin and went back out of action for another three weeks.

Assi 0-4 Kiruna
N. Labba 11’ (J. Tuominen); J. Tuominen 30’, 66’ (E. Lantto); E. Lantto 84’ (M. Jönsson)
Subs: S. Sjöbom for M. Lindmark, 78’
Misc.: J. Bergström, yellow card, 22’; G. Teigen, yellow card, 26’
Att.: 1219
***

As I’d hoped, Söderhamn took care of business against Gimonäs and so back into first place we vaulted. A good week got better (sort of?) when Björnlunda, an East Gotaland team, offered to take Peter Asp off of my hands for free. I was oddly reluctant to give him up, but of course I had to, and so off he went. Squad down to 21 players, wage bill down to 33,000 SEK per week, and still taking losses of about 300,000 per month.

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Lindmark’s re-injury was timed somewhat well given that Frank Langseth had just about recovered from his own groin strain before our next match. By “just about recovered” I mean that he was taking light training and that the physio didn’t want him back in game action for another ten days. But hey… sack up, boy, your team needs you!

16.5.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 7: Kiruna (1st) vs. Luleå SK (10th)
Last meeting: Kiruna 1-0 Luleå SK; overall vs. Luleå SK: 2W-1D-2L
F. Henriksen; F. Langseth, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Significantly, we’d never beaten SK in the league, our two wins against them coming in the Lombia Cup with a draw and a loss in the league and one loss in the Swedish Cup. SK were, I was beginning to believe, our nemesis, and this game did nothing to change that notion. Three minutes in, they were awarded a free kick just outside the box which Frode Henriksen parried… but the referee ordered a retake, and naturally they scored off of it. Ten minutes after that, Henriksen clipped the feet of an SK striker in the area, Amel Hrnjic came on for the first time all season and let the penalty by him. Fourteen minutes gone and down 2-0, sporting a 4-4-1 formation with a rusty goalkeeper in net, it was all downhill from there… or was it?

With Juha Tuominen the lone striker, we set to work. SK were confident of victory already and were leaving great gaps in the back, and after a failed attack by SK we pulled one back. It started with Kjellin sending a nice long ball for Nils Johan Labba, and after a last-ditch toe got the ball away from Labba, Erik Lantto picked it up and sent a laser beam in from twenty yards out. 2-1, but SK didn’t appear much bothered. “A fluke,” they thought, “won’t happen again."

They certainly appeared correct. Sixty-three minutes and five Amel Hrnjic (Man of the Match) saves later, we hadn’t managed to put together but two attacks, both resulting in long Lantto shots over the bar. But in injury time, we put together a last-gasp effort which culminated in Lantto lobbing one in for Jörgen Engström to head at goal… and it was… saved, tipped to goalkeeper’s left. But Frank Langseth was right there! He struck, hard and fast, and in it went for his first-ever Kiruna goal and a magnificent equalizer. Woooo!

Langseth stole the ball quickly from the ensuing kickoff, ran a long way up the sideline and crossed into the middle for Kenny Haglund to try a volley… skimmed the outside of the left post. Still, a highly unlikely point!

Kiruna 2-2 Luleå SK
S. Forsberg 3’; M. Gustafsson 14’ pen; E. Lantto 27’; F. Langseth 90’
Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 82’; J. Engström for J. Tuominen, 82’
Misc.: F. Henriksen, red card, 14’; E. Lantto, yellow card, 45’; G. Teigen, yellow card, 51’; R. Kjellin, yellow card, 52’
Att.: 1199
***

As it turned out, the point was quite important. Söderhamn and Gimonäs were both also held to draws, so we remained in first.

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The six-months-until-November period was upon me again, and the first order of business was to sign Joakim Gunillasson, Kenneth Haglund, and Björn Andersson to new contracts, Björn for one year and the others for two. Johan Stridsman and Lars Larsen were transfer listed; I’d seen enough of them this year to know they were surplus to requirements… if only barely. Göran Samuelsson’s future at Kiruna would depend upon how well he took to playing as a striker rather than a defender. I felt he had a far better future up front than at the back; time would tell.

Everybody was healthy for our next league game against lowly IFK Luleå, except Henriksen was suspended, so it was all first-choice players except for Amel Hrnjic in goal.

6.6.2004 at Skogsvallen, Luleå
Second Division North Game 8: IFK Luleå (11th) vs. Kiruna (1st)
Last meeting: Kiruna 0-0 IFK Luleå; overall vs. IFK Luleå: 1W-1D-0L
A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: B. Andersson, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

There was a fantastic start to this game when Nils Johan Labba set up Erik Lantto for a rare headed goal just four minutes in. The lead was short-lived, though, as IFK scored the next two.

The first came off of a direct kick 20 yards out by Jukka Ollikkala. Frank Langseth gave away the kick and got a yellow card for his efforts. The second came off of a direct kick 20 yards out by Jukka Ollikkala. Robert Kjellin gave away the kick and got a yellow card for his efforts.

Carbon-copy goals, practically, that Amel Hrnjic couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about. Fortunately, Erik Lantto was still in a scoring frame of mind, and he picked up the equalizer after a shot from Joakim Gunillasson was parried. At halftime it was all square, but we’d had more chances – in fact, the free kicks were all that IFK could muster on goal.

The second half began with various shots by both teams that failed to go in. It wasn’t until the 79th minute that the go-ahead goal was scored. That was by Johan Bergström, his first goal of the season, which was set up beautifully by Marcus Jönsson’s seventh assist. Just one minute later, Juha Tuominen went on a solo run straight through the middle of the IFK defense and finished brilliantly to provide the final scoreline.

IFK Luleå 2-4 Kiruna
E. Lantto 4’ (N. Labba), 37’; J. Ollikalla 15’, 33’; J. Bergström 79’ (M. Jönsson); J. Tuominen 80’
Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 79’; B. Andersson for F. Langseth, 90’
Misc.: F. Langseth, yellow card, 15’; R. Kjellin, yellow card, 32’; J. Gunillasson, yellow card, 90’
Att.: 746
***

So we remained in first place going into that more-than-a-month-long break during June and July, having garnered 20 points from 8 games and still unbeaten in the league. Gimonäs were only one point off the pace and Söderhamn had 17 points, and after our next game against Heden it would be showdown time – away at Söderhamn and at home to Gimonäs before the league schedule reset itself. Not only did those games seem as though they would have huge implications for the championship, their timing meant that Söderhamn and Gimonäs would be our last two opponents of the season – if the race remained this tight, it could be a very, very interesting sprint to the finish.

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I gave Johan Stridsman to Friska Viljor for free in the days following that victory. Down to 20 players! I was actually kind of looking forward to when there would be just 16, and the match-day squad would pick itself. We were down three players for our next match, anyway, though, so I should’ve been careful what I wished for, I guess. Kjellin and Langseth were both out a game suspended due to yellow cards, and Frode Henriksen had a couple matches yet to go on his suspension.

18.7.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 9: Kiruna (1st) vs. Heden (9th)
Last meeting: Kiruna 2-0 Heden; overall vs. Heden: 2W-0D-1L
A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, S. Sjöbom, G. Teigen; J. Bergström (c), E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström, L. Larsen, G. Samuelsson

With two of its key players out, our defense was a bit makeshift and Stefan Sjöbom was drafted into the middle for the first time in his career next to Björn Andersson. They were not tested for the first few minutes as we started the game out brightly with a couple of near misses, but once Heden got it going our defense looked uncoordinated indeed. The visitors had a blatant chance with one of their strikers in acres of space and he didn’t miss.

The teams traded chances for the rest of the half; quantity and quality both slowly swung Kiruna’s way, but no goals came. The second half was largely played in midfield up until the 71st minute. Lantto hit a long ball forward and to his right for Johan Bergström; the winger got his head to it and Joakim Gunillasson picked the ball up 20 yards from goal. Eschewing the opportunity to get in closer to the net, Joakim blasted a shot in after one touch and had us back even.

With the scores level we pushed forward yet more, and eventually Geir Teigen sprang the attackers for the go-ahead goal. Teigen carried the ball over the halfway line, considered his options, and sent it forward along the wing to Marcus Jönsson. Marcus tapped it ahead to Joakim. Marcus Lindmark was sprinting up to the striker’s right, and so they played a one-two, Gunillasson to Lindmark to Gunillasson and then – this is where it gets brilliant – Erik Lantto flashed up between them, took the second pass from Gunillasson (which all of the Heden defenders were expecting to go all the way to Lindmark), took two touches and slammed it in. 2-1!

Heden had the look of a beaten team after that goal, and so Gunillasson’s second was simply an exclamation point on a fine comeback win.

Kiruna 3-1 Heden
P. Ederborn 9’; J. Gunillasson 71’ (J. Bergström), 89’ (N. Labba); E. Lantto 80’ (J. Gunillasson)
Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 88’
Misc.: -
Att.: 1280
***

Woohoo, another victory! Gimonäs lost their game and so they dropped into third, four points back, and Söderhamn took second, three points off the pace.

Swedish Cup action was up next, and we were drawn at non-league Brännberg, who hadn’t won a single game in the Cup for the past three years. Frode Henriksen was allowed to play this game since it wasn’t in the league. Lars Larsen and Dagfinn Solbakken got starts on the left side of the pitch, Kenneth Haglund got a game in place of Erik Lantto, and Jörgen Engström partnered defender-who-will-someday-be-a-striker Göran Samuelsson in attack. Engström got a goal and Nils Johan Labba scored twice in an easy and relatively uneventful 3-1 victory. Swedish Cup: Brännberg 1-3 Kiruna - J. Engström (J. Bergström); N. Labba 2 (M. Lindmark, J. Bergström)

Göran Samuelsson hadn’t played too well in the cup game, but in the next reserve match against Söderhamn he scored both goals and was Man of the Match in a 2-0 win. Hope for him yet, I suppose.

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So, August 1, and a game that was maybe not as important as it had looked a couple of months ago. Even if Söderhamn beat us, our goal differential meant we’d stay in first barring a huge, huge defeat, and Gimonäs could only get within a point of us. Still, it’d be very nice to win. With Henriksen suspended, we’d again go without a goalkeeper on the bench.

1.8.2004 at Hällåsens IP, Söderhamn
Second Division North Game 10: Söderhamn (2nd) vs. Kiruna (1st)
Last meeting: Kiruna 2-2 Söderhamn; overall vs. Söderhamn: 3W-1D-0L
A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Our largest away following of the season came to this one, and oh... my... goodness. What a game. Okay, so it started out all right with Johan Bergström setting up Marcus Jönsson for a shot that went over, and Juha Tuominen had a decent chance after that which didn’t go in. And then everything began to fall apart.

Seventeen minutes in, Söderhamn’s left winger went on a long run up the sideline and set up Magnus Närthén for a headed goal. But it’s just one, right? By no means were we beaten, right? Söderhamn enjoyed a long period of possession after their goal, only foraying forward for one attack that ended in a shot wide. And then, when they went forward again, George Bcheri got through the defense, got around Hrnjic… and the idiot brought him down from behind. Red card.

Goalie sent off, penalty coming up, nobody who can play the position on the bench. I frankly had no clue which of the available players would be best at goalie, so I left it up to them, and 19-year-old Nils Johan Labba stepped forward to take the gloves. Kenneth Haglund came into the game for Tuominen and we realigned into a 4-4-1. Labba conceded the penalty, diving the wrong way.

Down two goals with only ten men available, a “goalkeeper” in name only, and facing the strongest defense in the Division was not a good situation to be in. But opponents underestimated Kiruna at their own peril. Knowing that allowing shots could be suicide, we worked hard to close down Söderhamn before they could get any attacks going and tried to grab a goal for ourselves. It took until after halftime for one to come, and it was all Kenny Haglund who did it – dribbling the ball over 50 yards before driving it in to halve the deficit.

Still, we needed at least another goal to get a point and likely more than one if Söderhamn could put together any sort of attack. They very nearly did shortly after Haglund’s goal, but a clean last-ditch tackle from Frank Langseth kept Labba from being forced into action. Robert Kjellin ended up with the ball and calmly wove together the beginnings of an attack. He found Erik Lantto, who worked with Haglund to get the ball forward into the penalty area, and when Joakim Gunillasson’s shot got saved, Lantto was there to poke in the rebound. 2-2! But still a half an hour to play.

I was faced with a difficult decision – go defensive, or keep attacking? Defending, I realized, would invite shots by Söderhamn and I wasn’t prepared to take that risk. In the 75th minute, Bcheri got free again, but put his shot wide. Ten minutes after that, Söderhamn put together an attack from a free kick… passed it around… shot from distance… saved by Nils Johan Labba! Kjellin picked it up and cleared. Söderhamn would not be denied and came right back. Benny Dahlin, the midfielder who had scored their penalty, found space in the area, blasted a shot from ten yards out… and Labba made the save again! Söderhamn were in disbelief as Marcus Jönsson cleared the ball into touch.

All that remained of the game were a couple of Kiruna attacks, Kenny Haglund putting a shot high and wide and a free kick just before time coming to nothing. But an amazing point.

Söderhamn 2-2 Kiruna
M. Närthén 17’; B. Dahlin 33’ pen; K. Haglund 54’; E. Lantto 60’
Subs: K. Haglund for J. Tuominen, 33’
Misc.: A. Hrnjic, red card, 33’
Att.: 2544
***

Hoo boy.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division NorthPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st **Kiruna** 10 3 2 0 13 7 4 1 0 14 4 24 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Gimonäs 10 5 0 0 11 4 2 1 2 9 11 22 3rd Söderhamn 10 3 1 1 11 7 3 2 0 8 3 21 4th Östersunds FK 10 4 1 0 11 5 1 1 3 7 9 17 5th Luleå Fotboll 10 2 2 1 10 10 2 1 2 10 9 15 6th Selånger 10 3 1 1 13 9 0 3 2 8 10 13 7th Skellefteå AIK 10 3 1 1 8 3 1 0 4 7 11 13 8th Luleå SK 10 2 0 3 8 9 1 2 2 8 9 11 9th Heden 10 2 3 0 10 8 0 1 4 5 12 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10th Boden 10 1 2 2 5 6 1 1 3 9 13 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11th IFK Luleå 10 2 1 2 11 11 0 0 5 3 14 7 12th Assi 10 0 1 4 3 13 0 2 3 4 9 3 </pre>

How about that away form, eh? Eh?

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So Hrnjic got banned for three matches. Good timing, I suppose, with Frode Henriksen’s suspension ending. Only getting the point from Söderhamn meant that Gimonäs could pass us if they beat us… but with confidence at Lombiavallen so high, how could they possibly?

8.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 11: Kiruna (1st) vs. Gimonäs (2nd)
Last meeting: - ; overall vs. Gimonäs: -
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

I harbored a special hatred for Gimonäs. After promoting from the fourth level, they proceeded to splash out in excess of 5,000,000 SEK on players without selling a single soul. In the colloquial sense, I mean. I am convinced that as a team, they did, in fact, sell their souls. At any rate, their team was chock-full of players who were far too good for the Second Division. Meanwhile, we’re trundling along with 19 players under contract and approaching the magical mark of 10,000,000 SEK in the red. Sigh.

That’s why I really wanted us to kick their arses, in addition to the obvious benefits of beating them in the league. And kick their arses we did. Erik Lantto started off the scoring with something that he has become expert at; that is, scoring off of rebounds. Marcus Jönsson had taken the initial shot. Juha Tuominen scored our second, diving to head in a Robert Kjellin free kick.

Gimonäs were too good to just go down that easily, though, and they got one back just after halftime through Sargon Demirdag, who is just as dangerous as his name sounds. A 2-1 lead was somewhat tenuous and so Juha took it upon himself to give us a bit more breathing room, going on a long run which culminated in a fine strike and put us up by two.

Demirdag completed his brace on 70 minutes, but Gimonäs had nothing left in the tank and we got ourselves a fine win. 11 without a loss, now!

Kiruna 3-2 Gimonäs
E. Lantto 7’; J. Tuominen 30’ (R. Kjellin), 51’; S. Demirdag 48’, 70’
Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 70’
Misc.: -
Att.: 1636
***

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With an almost-comfortable cushion of five points down to second place, we began the second half of the season hosting Skellefteå. With an excellent all-time record against them, I looked for us to continue our fine run.

15.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 12: Kiruna (1st) vs. Skellefteå (8th)
Last meeting: Skellefteå 0-2 Kiruna; overall vs. Skellefteå: 4W-0D-1L
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Sixteen minutes into the game, we thought we had a lead when our favorite young Finn headed in a cross from Johan Bergström. But it was ruled out for offside. Now, there are two ways you can react when a goal is disallowed – get ****ed at the linesman, or come back and score one that he can’t wave off. The way we’d been playing of late, there was no question which we were going to do. Three minutes after the disallowed goal, Joakim Gunillasson lead off the scoring, assisted by Marcus Jönsson, the left winger’s eighth assist of the season.

Joakim had a goal of his own ruled out for offside about a half-hour into the game, but got his just desserts after halftime when he scored a fine goal with a direct free kick. He finished his hat-trick after an hour had gone by.

Skellefteå didn’t score, thanks to five saves from Frode Henriksen. Victory… as usual

Kiruna 3-0 Skellefteå
J. Gunillasson 19’ (M. Jönsson), 49’, 64’ (G. Teigen)
Subs: -
Misc.: N. Labba, yellow card, 5’; F. Langseth, yellow card, 34’
Att.: 1144
***

The win widened our gap on second place to six points, over Söderhamn at this particular juncture.

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Next up: a visit to Luleå Fotboll. In the week between games, we locked up Dagfinn Solbakken for another year.

22.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 13: Luleå Fotboll (5th) vs. Kiruna (1st)
Last meeting: Kiruna 3-1 Luleå Fotboll; overall vs. Luleå Fotboll: 4W-1D-1L
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Fotboll had the ol’ stitched pentagons causing ripples in the squares o’ silk within a minute and a half. Ruled out for offside. Like I said before, you can either sack up and get a legitimate goal, or sulk about it. They sulked.

Nils Johan Labba scored the first real goal of the game nine minutes in. Luleå Fotboll really went to pieces after that. Joakim Gunillasson scored the next two, one assisted by Johan Bergström, and Robert Kjellin added Kiruna’s fourth, heading in a free kick from Marcus Jönsson. That made nine assists on the year for him.

With the score 4-0 before halftime (and indeed by the half-hour mark), we just coasted the rest of the way, and Fotboll seemed content to let us do so. Wusses.

Luleå Fotboll 0-4 Kiruna
N. Labba 9’ (G. Teigen); J. Gunillasson 12’ (J. Bergström), 24’; R. Kjellin 30’ (M. Jönsson)
Subs: K. Haglund for E. Lantto, 67’; J. Engström for J. Gunillasson, 67’; D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 81’
Misc.: -
Att.: 763
***

Swedish Cup game against Aspeboda away next. As much as I could, I ran out a lineup of backups and we got beat 2-0. Ahhhh well.

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Our final game of August was going to be at home against Boden. August had been pretty damn fantastic; not only had we had three wins and a draw so far, but it really looked as though we were going to turn a monthly profit for the first time in ages. And the home game against Boden last year had been our highest attendance of the season, so we were looking at a good chunk of gate receipts before the month was out. Yay! Unfortunately Johan Bergström was unavailable for the Boden game due to injury, and Marcus Jönsson was feeling a bit under the weather, so I had a bit of shifting to do.

29.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna
Second Division North Game 14: Kiruna (1st) vs. Boden (10th)
Last meeting: Boden 0-2 Kiruna; overall vs. Boden: 3W-2D-3L
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; E. Lantto, K. Haglund, N. Labba, D. Solbakken; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, M. Jönsson, J. Engström

Good stuff fifteen minutes in when Boden’s Estonian international skipper was sent off for jump-kicking Juha Tuominen. It did take us awhile to take advantage of it, but take advantage we did, twelve minutes after the red card. It was Juha who got the goal, Dagfinn Solbakken picking up the assist. Norwegian to Finn in a Swedish league game. What a lovely multicultural game we play.

Boden certainly weren’t playing as if they were a man down, and fought back hard. In fact, they knotted the game at one apiece a little way into the second half. Surely they couldn’t presume to take points away from Kiruna? Surely not!

Our pride thusly aroused, we sallied forth in search of a winner. It took a little while, but damned if we didn’t get it. Robert Kjellin picked up a rare assist, sending a nice long, long ball to Joakim Gunillasson – reminiscent of de Boer to Bergkamp in the ’98 World Cup against Argentina, if that helps – and Joakim didn’t miss with it.

Over the past thirteen games, we’d gotten pretty good at riding out wins, and this one was no more difficult than the others in that respect.

Kiruna 2-1 Boden
J. Tuominen 27’ (D. Solbakken); R. Lundgren 56’; J. Gunillasson 69’ (R. Kjellin)[/i]
Subs: -
Misc.: F. Langseth, yellow card, 22’
Att.: 1394
***

Well, we finished August seven points clear of the pack with only eight games left to blow it. But I was wrong about one thing. We didn’t make a profit. Turns out the bill for ground maintenance comes due at the end of the month; we lost another 90,000 this lunar cycle. Ah well.

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September strolled into the metaphorical room of time, lit up a cigarette, and lounged about for a few days before whisking us off to Selånger for our first game of the month.

5.9.2004 at Bergsåkers IP, Selånger
Second Division North Game 15: Selånger (8th) vs. Kiruna (1st)
Last meeting: Kiruna 2-2 Selånger; overall vs. Selånger: 3W-1D-1L
F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin (c), G. Teigen; E. Lantto, K. Haglund, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, G. Samuelsson, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

This was kind of a sloppy game. Certainly it wasn’t one the tape of which you would show to your children in an effort to infuse them with a love of the game, or even one you would show to maximum-security prison inmates to give them a bit of light entertainment after a hard day of license-plate making. Just sort of a game with an aura of dullness about it.

Umm. Anyway. Geir Teigen set up Gunillasson for the first goal, a header after 21 minutes of play. Four minutes after, more supply from the left allowed Gunillasson to score, this time from Marcus Jönsson, his 10th assist of the year. That was, by the way, good for second in the entire Second Division (not just the D2 North).

Of course, Selånger couldn’t let such a challenge go unanswered, and it was naturally the evil Kiruna-killer Benny Mattsson who scored for them in the 39th minute. And that was the extent of the scoring. They had two goals disallowed for offside and we had one of our own called off; additionally, Frode Henriksen had to make a few good saves, but a win’s a win, no?

Selånger 1-2 Kiruna
J. Gunillasson 21’ (G. Teigen), 25’ (M. Jönsson); B. Mattsson 39’
Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 62’; J. Engström for J. Tuominen, 79’
Misc.: -
Att.: 773
***

Victory coupled with Gimonäs’ shock loss at home to IFK Luleå put us ten points clear in the league. We, in fact, had four points more than the next-best team in the entire Second Division.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division NorthPos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Kiruna 15 6 2 0 21 10 6 1 0 20 5 39 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Gimonäs 15 6 0 1 16 8 3 2 3 16 15 29 3rd Söderhamn 15 4 1 2 15 12 4 3 1 12 8 28 4th Luleå Fotboll 15 3 3 2 15 16 4 1 2 14 11 25 5th Heden 15 4 3 0 13 8 3 1 4 12 15 25 6th Östersunds FK 15 5 2 1 17 10 2 1 4 9 11 24 7th Skellefteå AIK 15 4 2 1 10 4 2 0 6 10 16 20 8th Selånger 15 3 2 2 15 12 0 5 3 11 14 16 9th Luleå SK 15 3 0 5 12 17 1 3 3 10 12 15 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10th Boden 15 2 2 4 7 9 1 2 4 11 16 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11th IFK Luleå 15 2 3 2 13 13 1 0 7 7 20 12 12th Assi 15 0 1 7 4 18 0 2 5 5 15 3 </pre>