A Norwegian Adventure

Four Goal Draw as Berg Gets First Point at Bryne

Bryne FK have begun their start under new manager Olav Berg with a 2-2 draw away to 4th placed Hødd in a back and forth game. Berg went up against a Hødd side who are now unbeaten in the last 4 matches and in a game, many expected Bryne to lose, a draw was a great result for the struggling side.

The scoring was opened by central midfielder Bendik Rise who hit a thunderous volley from the edge of the box, that flew past Bryne goalkeeper Igor Spiridonov who had no chance of making a save. With the scoring opened in the 39th minute both sides went into the half time break with very little separating them.

Coming out of halftime, a double substitution on the hour mark led to Bryne taking control of the game, with them finally getting their deserved goal in the 69th minute through Omar El Ghaouti. Left back Petter Havsgård Martinsen, found himself in acers of space on the left flank and swung in a perfectly whipped ball into the 6-yard box that El Ghaouti duly headed home.

However, Byrne’s celebrations were short lived, with Hødd going ahead once again in the 74th minute with yet another world class strike. A ball lumped forward from right sided midfielder Ole Sebastian Sundgot looked like it would come of nothing until Joachim Osvold got in behind Rógvi Baldvinnsson and with a brilliant bit of control took the ball beautifully into his stride. With just a few touches to get the ball out of his feet, Osvold struck the ball sweetly seeing it fly into the top right corner past a helpless Spiridonov.

But Bryne once again managed an equalizer with an 80th minute finish from El Ghaouti, giving him his first brace of the season taking his league total to 7 for the season. After a nice piece of play between Byrne’s two centre backs to move the ball out of the defence Andres Dybevik, a 20 year old Central midfielder, played an excellent ball over the top of the Hødd defence for El Ghaouti to run on to. As the Norwegian striker ran onto the ball he took one touch, before striking the ball into the far right hand corner, tying the game up.

New manager Olav Berg saw the result as a positive commenting “We have played well today, there were some good moments especially after the 60th minute where we controlled the game nicely. I was very impressed with how Omar finished in the final third scoring his two goals today and I look forward to seeing what we can produce in the upcoming games. No doubt we still have a lot to work on, but there were certainly positives out there today!”

Up next for Berg and his side is a home match against Vålerenga Fotball 2 (8/7/18) before travelling to 3rd place Fløy (14/7/18) who are currently on a 6 game unbeaten run.

Results

Replies

Jack: Formation wise I don’t think caused the issues. A combo of not playing certain players and maybe a tweak in roles is what I am looking to change, hopefully it works out. The lack of staff is worrying however the squad depth is an even larger issue with not a single player being in the youth sides!
Scott: Glad you enjoyed! Hopefully they work out otherwise Olav will need to adjust quickly to save us from relegation!
Jopa: Thanks mate!
Justice: I think we did well considering the lack of time we had to prepare!

A decent first fixture given your opponents good form, however, this is just the start with Valerenga 2 coming off the back of a great 4-0 win and Floy who are 'Floying' high in the league and on a good run of form

Watch El Ghaouti doing his ACL now, hopefully not though . Good result !

1st August 2018

So I’ve been in charge for over a month now and its fair to say, things are going well. Currently unbeaten with two draws and one win against Hødd,Vålerenga Fotball 2 and Fløy respectively we have made it out of the relegation zone sat in 11th place.

The Results

We started the month with a 2-2 draw away to a 4th placed Hødd, a team we always knew would be a tough game but one we thought we could get a result in. A double from our player of the month Omar El Ghaouti, helped us to secure a solid point to lay the foundations for where I want to take the club.

Next up we played Vålerenga Fotball 2 in my first home game as manager, a game that some bookies expected us to win. Despite dominating the match a dubious penalty awarded to Vålerenga Fotball 2 saw them gain the lead through Thomas Elsebutangen. Yet once again Omar came to our rescue, securing us another point. Left Back Petter Havsgård Martinsen secured his second assist of the month with a long ball over the top of the Vålerenga defence with Omar latching on to the ball before burying it into the bottom left corner. Despite not winning the game against the side placed 9th before the game, our performance impressed me, giving me hope going into our next game against promotion hopefuls Fløy.

With our second away game of my managerial career, we went to Fløy, a team sat in the top 5 just 2 points of top spot. A game that nobody saw us coming away with anything and yet from the vey first minute we were excellent. After countless attempts we finally took a deserved lead through Sean Aerts, a signing from Belgium in the winter who was yet to make his debut before I took over. Sean has been excellent in our 3 games so far and the headed goal was well deserved.

Unfortunately we couldn’t hold on to our first clean sheet in three months when Christoffer Myhre capitalizing on a mistake at the back to slide one past Igor. An entirely undeserved goal was a kick in the teeth however the boys continued to show magnificent spirit with youngster Andreas Dybevik, another player who has impressed me this month, giving us back our lead. The 20 year old who had only come on, off the bench 7 minuets before his goal saw a Brunes cross cleared out only to find him on the edge of the area. With a few neat touches he struck the ball into the top left corner with a great finish.

However, once again we saw ourselves concede, this time an excellent ball into the box from midfielder Henrik Andersen, saw our centre backs split, and an easy enough finish was granted to Magnus Hallandvik to head it home.

Just when I was wondering when we would catch a break, we finaly clinched the winner through, once again, Omar El Ghaouti. With his trademark seemingly being to latch onto balls knocked over the defenders heads, Omar this time received a ball from youth graduate Ola Johannes Elvedahl, and without any hesitation the ball was slotted in past the keeper at his near post. We finally had our first win in 6 games.

The League Table

The table is looking a lot better since I took over, rising out of the relegation zone and into 11th place on goal difference. We are now just 4 points off a midtable position and it is looking like it will be a tough battle to both avoid relegation and to make it in to the top half of the table. Hopefully we can continue our current form and continue to rise up the league.

Next Months Fixtures

Up next we have three home games and a single away match going up against, Kjelsås, Brattvåg, Arendal and Egersunds. Firstly we face Kjelsås, a side currently occupying 10th place in a game that will see us go above them in the table. In our first game against them away we drew 1-1 with them through a Bjarne Langeland goal. In our only away match of the month, we play Brattvåg, a side challenging at the top of the league sat in 3rd. In the return fixture they beat us 2-0 at home, showing how tough this game will be. Our last two games see us go against both 1st and 2nd,ending a horrible run of fixtures at the end of August, against Arendal and Egersunds respectively. With the last three games of the month pitting us against the top 3 we are going to have to play exceptionally well to take any points from these fixtures.

Player of the Month

For my first month in charge only one man deserved to win, scoring 4 crucial goals in 3 games, Omar El Ghaouti. Omar’s performances this month have been superb seeing him move into the out right leader in the golden boot race with a total of 9 league goals so far this season.



Omar joined us in the winter window from fellow 2. Divisjon side Fram Larvik on a free transfer and has provided vital to my side so far under my tenure. Having previously scored 8 goals in his previous 14 games he had played this season, Omar’s return has been highly impressive this month and we will need it to continue to avoid a relegation battle.

Young Player of the Month

This months young player of the month is Andreas Dybevik who has been highly impressive off the bench scoring and assisting on two occasions. The 20 year old who was signed from Sandnes Ulf on a free this summer was finally given his debut off the bench and repaid my faith immediately. Andreas has still got a fair way to develop in to a high level player for us but he has certainly got on to the right track as of late.

Other News

The month started with me signing up a physio, scout and Head of Youth Development, three key roles I identified as the upmost importance when I first signed my deal as manager. All three have settled in well and will hopefully be around for a while in our aim to develop the club.
As for player incomings the transfer window is open and we have started looking at potential arrivals, however with our very poor finances due to a loan repayment we have nothing to spend. This means we are going to have to rely on loan deals. Hopefully we can find some players to further increase the quality and add a bit more depth to the club.

Heres to next month!

Replies

Jack: Lovely pun in there! Both teams had some good form and performances coming into our games and with such I am very happy with how we played against them both.

Jopa: Don’t jinx that one please! He has been incredible this month!!

Great piece of management here, you've had an immediate impact on proceedings and the only thing to do for the remainder is maintain this form and possibly rise into the top half.

Looking good so far mate, not much between the top and bottom teams in reality. Goodluck.

First Place Egersunds Stunned By Dominant Bryne

Bryne Celebrate Aasheim’s second goal of the game

Bryne FK recorded a highly impressive victory over top of the table Egersunds at Bryne Stadion earlier today with a 4 goal victory giving the side languishing in the lower half of the table 3 points.

Bryne who went in to the game complete underdogs against the side currently sat top of the league, and yet new manager Olav Berg’s side performed at an elite level from the get go. With just 4 minuets on the clock, fans were still finding their seats when summer signing Tor André Aasheim gave Bryne FK the lead. With top scorer Omar El Ghaouti, on a salom run with one man to beat cover defender Stian Sleveland made an inch perfect slide tackle disposing the striker of the ball. However, Aasheim was first to react and with great accuracy put the ball away into the far corner leaving keeper, Emil Harloff standing still.

But it didn’t go all Bryne’s way, Egersunds showed the quality that has led them to the top of the league, with both attacking midfielder Erixon Danso and Henning Romslo forcing world class saves out of Igor Spiridonov.

With pressure mounting on the Rogsland side, an excellent tackle deep inside Egersunds half from El Ghaouti gave the ball to midfielder Sean Artes who slipped a lovely pass into Aasheim’s feet. Aasheim took two touches before unleashing a curling effort past the diving Harloff, taking his tally to two for the day and giving Bryne a 2-0 lead.

The right winger then turned provider for Bryne’s third, capping a remarkable performance from the man of the match. With 81 minuets up on the clock and Egersunds once again piling pressure on to the side on the brink of relegation place, a great block by central defender Krister Wemberg found it’s way to Aasheim. With Egersunds throwing as many numbers as possible forward it was a two on three attack, with El Ghaouti in support. Aasheim sprinted forward before playing a pinpoint ball over the top of the defenders allowing the in form striker to take one touch before slamming the ball home.

With manager Olav Berg already celebrating a fantastic win, congratulating his staff and players sat on the bench, the players on the pitch weren’t done there. With a minute left of injury time left back Petter Havsgård Martinsen delivered a superb ball into the 6 yard box where El Ghaouti once again found himself tapping the ball past a despaired Harloff, capping off a big win for the club.

Manager Olav Berg had this to say after the final whistle “Wow! What a performance from the boys. It was hard to take last week losing 3-0 at home against a top side in Arendal and I know plenty of people thought similar would happen today, yet we showed just how good a side we are beating top of the table. Things haven’t gone how we have wanted this season and results haven’t been there the majority of the time but we are now 7 games into my tenure I believe and only one loss. I am really impressed with where this squad is going and I hope it continues”
When asked what the aims for the rest of the season would be Berg responded “We are still only a few points outside of the relegation zone I believe, we cant lose focus and get ahead of ourselves now, we have a big game up next against Stjørdals-Blink who are in a relegation battle of their own. As much as it’ cliché, we need to just focus on one game at a time”

Bergs side will now look forward to a much kinder run having played the top 3 in successive matches playing bottom of the table Stjørdals-Blink and Skeid who are currently 11th, in their next two matches.

Results

Replies

Jack: Thank you. The response has been excellent and the players that have come in have performed at a very high level. It is important for us to now continue on and I believe we can and the aim would be to get into the top half.
SOA: That was something I noticed pretty quickly. It seems anyone can beat anyone in this league meaning the difference in league positions changes quite regularly. Thanks for the support!

What a turnaround you have performed! That's a huge result and things are really starting to look up for Bryne now.

Some great results so far. Keep it going!

A 4-0 spanking to lay down a marker, pulling you up the table in the process! Nicely done.

#OlavsAtTheWheel #TheOlavEffect

Good results mate, goodluck with the rest of the season.

31st August 2018

What an incredible month! We finished off July by assessing what we thought was going to be an incredibly difficult month with the hope of picking up a few points against the top 3, expectations were low! Yet we came away beating two of the three putting 4 past top of the league!

The Results

The month started off with our easiest game, on paper, for August’s set of fixtures against 10th placed Kjelsås, with a win putting us above them in the table. In a game we once again performed at a very impressive level, as we had throughout the previous month, we were unable to get ourselves a winning goal. However, we did manage to keep our first clean sheet under my management, something I was impressed to see. Standout performances coming from the fullbacks Langeland (on the right) and Petter (on the left) both of the guys creating chances going forward and doing well to defend at the back.

Next up we had the first of our ‘tough’ challenges, Brattvåg, away from home. Brattvåg had gone 5 games unbeaten and were sat in 3rd place in the league just a point off top spot before we turned up to the Brattvåg Stadion. Brattvåg took an early lead through Torbjørn Grytten after just 6 minuets. A truly terrible mix up at the back that left me furious.

Brattvåg continued to pressure us but our defense stood strong, when in the 32nd minute their defensive midfielder, Simon Tomren was sent off for his second bookable offence just 5 minuets after his first. From that point on we took control. It took just 5 minuets for us to equalize after the sending off with 17 year old Jonatan Braut Brunes heading home from a Bjarne Langeland corner.

The goal spurred us on even more and with a minute gone past the 45, we took the lead. This time Andreas Jacobsen lashed a forceful shot into the left hand corner, a superb strike that left the goalkeeper with no chance despite his best efforts.

That’s how it ended, 2-1, a result I was delighted about. The fear was we would come out of all three games with massive defeats sending morale into the ground. But this gave us confidence we could go back home and play well against Arendal. However, that confidence was short lived. A performance that didn’t suit the scoreline as we created more of the chances and dominated possession, unfortunately Arendal’s quality shone through beating us 3-0 showing their clinical edge.

The result was a tough one to take but the players came into training with a real zip about them. The improvement was clear to see and despite a disappointing result, it felt as though we hadn’t just lost our 5 game unbeaten run.

However, the nerves were still there when top of the table Egersunds came in to town. Having been on a 3 game winning streak scoring 11 goals in that time, they were in top form. Yet the boys had a different idea. Taking the game to them from the off, I was delighted for Tor, who opened up the scoring. The 22 year old hadn’t seen any game time since his winter move before I became manager and was keen to impress when he got the opportunity. Impress, he did. The winger was in impeccable form for us, scoring twice and creating Omar’s first. He was the best out of a great team performance that delighted me and gives me real confidence coming in to the run in.

The League Table

We are sitting in a very respectable 9th place after another impressive month, 3 points clear of the relegation places. This continued improvement could see us move into the top half of the table with just 4 points currently separating us and 5th placed Vidar.

Next Months Fixtures

Septembers fixtures have been a lot kinder to us as we enter the penultimate month of the season. We start the month of against bottom of the league Stjørdals-Blink in the first of our three away games in the month. We then continue our travels to Skeid another side battling it out to reach the top half sat one place above us in 8th. Two home games follow against 5th place Vidar and lowly, 13th placed Nardo before the month is wrapped up with yet another away trip to Oslo as we face off against KFUM Oslo.

Player of the Month

This months Player of the month was a tight call between our two right sided players, Tor André Aasheim and the ultimate winner right back Bjarne Langeland. Bjarne’s consistency throughout the month gave him the slight edge over Tor.

Bjarne started the month of playing brilliantly in defence to help us secure our first clean sheet and then went on and grabbed an assist in our next game against Brattvåg a potential season defining moment in our win against the 3rd placed side. Bjarne is 25 now and is an experienced player in terms of our squad having made 137 league appearances in his career so far.

Young Player of the Month

Having just missed out on Player of the month, only one man could win Young Player of the month, Tor André Aasheim.

With 2 goals and an assist in our final game of the month against Egersunds, Tor was phenomenal and it showed the continue improvements he is making towards becoming a real force in the league. The 22 year old is going to be a vitally important player for me and my squad if we are to achieve what I am aiming for. With age on his side I hope we can keep him for the long haul, something that may prove challenging with our current financial situation.

Transfer News

August also saw the transfer window continue. With a lack of finances due to a previous 450k loan being repaid, I have had to rely on the loan market. With a lack of squad depth I bought in a total of 6 players all coming in from Eliteserien sides.

I am incredibly pleased with the players we have bought in as the squad depth and competition for places was much needed and I believe has helped spur us on this month. All 6 come in without us paying any fee for their loan deal and all of them will be with us until the end of the season. Hopefully the boys can provide for us when called upon as I am sure they will.

Other News

As mentioned before, the club has began to pay off a £450,000 loan, with repayments costing the club £40,000 a month. With this in mind I went to the board suggesting we look for a Senior affiliate to not just help boost our finances but to also allow us to sign players on loan without the need to pay a fee for their services. The board agreed and bought me two options, namely Molde and Rosenborg. We decided to go with Norway’s most successful side, Rosenborg who will send us an annual sum of £43,163 whilst also playing against us at the Bryne Stadion in pre season with us keeping all the gate receipts. We have also taken advantage of the loan side of the deal signing up left winger Teodor Haltvik, to fill a position we needed to cover immediately.

Once again, lets look forward to an exciting month. Come on Bryne!

Replies

Jack: Been very impressed with what we have managed, I don’t think this side is to far from getting in that promotion mix!
Scott: That’s the aim! Thanks mate!
Justice: Couldn’t quite believe we managed to beat them so convincingly! Big result which has seen the morale shoot up!
Jopa: Hopefully I don’t crash like a certain Norwegian
SOA Indeed. Been very impressed so far! Thanks mate!

Not a bad month, but September looks like an easier month on paper. Certainly a chance to get maximum points.

A mixed bag of results but you're looking more safe with every passing month. Next season will be the real test of your abilities, just need to keep aiming upwards this season!