June 25 - 27, 2010: Round 14 of the Vodafone Division:

June 25

Víkingur – B68 Toftir 0-0

Looking at the table before today’s match, the stalemate was maybe already written in the stars as Víkingur was the second worst performing home team with 6 points from 6 home matches, and B68 was the worst performing away team without a single point in their 6 away matches.

Víkingur had a couple of close finishes in the early stages, while B68 had their chances later in the half. The second half was a very dull affair, where especially Víkingur created little and are obviously hampered by the absence of midfielder Súni Olsen who was sidelined through injury. Also B68 have had their share of injury problems which is reflected in the table. For Víkingur centre back Atli Gregersen played his last game (this time around) as he will be joining Scottish Ross County next week.

June 26
FC Suðuroy - B71 Sandoy 2-1 (2-1)
0-1 Mads Hentze
1-1 Jón Krosslá Poulsen (or maybe an owngoal)
2-1 Obi Ikechukwu Charles

A loss for Suðuroy today would most likely have had fatal consequences for the club as they would then have dropped 8 points below the crucial lifesaving 8th place in the table.

And it didn’t look good for Suðuroy when B71 took the lead after only 10 minutes when Símin Hansen played Mads Hentze clear for an easy finish.

However, the goal was against run of play and it took Suðuroy only a quarter of an hour to turn it around with goals from Jón Krosslá Poulsen after a corner (maybe it will be credited as an owngoal instead) and Nigerian striker Obi Ikechukwu Charles.

Suðuroy was much closer to making it 3-1 in the second half than B71 was for an equalizer.

Suðuroy leapfrogged AB in 9th place to move within 3 points of B71 in 8 spot. But even B68 in 7th position can't feel too safe, but ought to manage to steer clear of real troubles eventually.

June 27

HB Tórshavn - EB/Streymur 5-2 (3-1)
0-1 Gudmund Nielsen
1-1 Fróði Benjaminsen
2-1 Andrew av Fløtum
3-1 Rógvi Poulsen
3-2 Egil á Bø
4-2 Símun Samuelsen
5-2 Símun Samuelsen

HB had an easy walk in the park against an EB/Streymur side which defensively looked to have gone on vacation and it certainly didn’t help either that 3 or 4 of their key players were missing through injury. This provided Símun Samuelsen with favourable working conditions which he took full advantage of as he answered some of the critics he has received and spurred HB on to a 5-2 win.

Not much happened in the first quarter of an hour, but then HB midfielder Levi Hansen, who played for EB/Streymru last season, forgot that he had changed club and played Gudmund Nielsen clear. Nielsen’s hook from close range left Marcin Dawid in the HB goal with no chance.

But EB/Streymur’s lead was short-lived as Símun Samuelsen a couple of minutes later with a 35 metre-long pass found a clear Fróði Benjaminsen who’s well placed header restored parity.

HB then went on to take the lead a quarter of an hour later. EB/Streymur couldn’t clear HB’s second corner in a row and after some back and forth, Símun Samuelsen set up Andrew av Fløtum for an easy finish.

Just before half-time Rógvi Poulsen made it 3-1 with a terrific strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area as he took advantage of the passive defence.

EB/Streymur looked to be back in the match 8 minutes after the restart when centre-back Egil á Bø was on the end of a long free kick at the back post. HB’s defence didn’t look good, and maybe they suffered from the substitution of Icelandic central defender Thorður Hreidarsson who had gone off injured at half time.

But what looked like a possible fight back was quickly dampened as HB restored their two-goal cushion the minute after when Símun Samuelsen curled a well placed flat shot into the back of the net.

Samuelsen really turned on the show on the left had side and created havoc in EB/Streymur’s defence and 25 minutes through the half he strolled through the passive defence once more to make it 5-2.

EB/Streymur had been close a couple of times – once hitting the post, but HB’s win was never at threat.

AB Argir - NSÍ Runavík 0-0

Although AB were – and still are - last in the table, they had – and still have - only lost one match at home this season, and therefore it was maybe not too surprising after all that they also managed to hold table toppers NSÍ Runavík and stop their winning streak of 9 consecutive victories.

NSÍ found it difficult to penetrate AB's well organized defensive unit and failed to create clear cut scoring opportunities. AB rarely threatened, but had a couple of decent opportunities near in the closing stages.

With the sole point today NSÍ still lead the table going into the summer break , 1 point ahead of HB in second place.

NSÍ’s next league match is on 27 July when they take on B68 Toftir. But on 1 July NSÍ play the first leg of the Europa League match against Swedish opponents Gefle IF. The match will be played in Gundadalur, Tórshavn.

ÍF Fuglafjørður - B36 Tórshavn 0-5 (0-2)
0-1 Bárður Olsen
0-2 Christian R. Mouritsen
0-3 Høgni Eysturoy
0-4 Róaldur Jacobsen
0-5 Magnus Olsen

After an even first 25 minutes B36 eventually took control of the game and around the half-hour mark Bárður Olsen opened the scoring with a fine strike before Christian R. Mouritsen doubled the lead with an easy tap-in 8 minutes later.

Høgni Eysturoy then made it 3-0 within 10 minutes of the second half. The assistant referee raised his flag for off side, but the referee waved play on and allowed the goal.

Although ÍF went close with an effort from Øssur Dalbúð which B36 goalkeeper Jóan Pauli Jakobsen pushed onto the crossbar, the match belonged to B36.

With 15 minutes to go Róaldur Jakobsen made it 4-0 after a solo effort before Magnus Olsen finished the rout 10 minutes later to make it 5-0 for B36.

Without putting too much interpretation into it, it should still be mentioned that normal 1st choice goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen was not in the ÍF goal today but had been released by Eyðun Madsen. Some of our readers are familiar with ÍF striker Rógvi Jacobsen, but he is still injured and has in fact only played in 5 matches this season.

ÍF play again on Saturday against AB Argir in round 15. However the rest of the matches in round 15 will not be played before 25 August.

Note
The league will now have a summer break and won’t resume until 27 July. BUT the first match of round 15 will be played on Saturday 3 July, but the rest of the matches in round 15 will not be played until 25 August. That’s after round 16, 17, 18 and 19. HB also say that their scheduled 16th-round match against B71 on 27 July might be postponed to 28 July so that it will be played on "Ólavsøka", the national day which is celebrated in Tórshavn on 28 and 29 July.