– Lost my head a bit – Dagsavisen

Monday’s series opener was a showdown between two of the medal winners from last year’s season. There, Brann showed that they have used the winter well and finally won an exciting match.

Joachim Soltvedt scored twice in the victory. The first came on a penalty kick, while goal number two was a gem from 20 metres.

After the match, he highlighted the celebration of the second goal.

– I just have to apologize for the celebration to the Tromsø fans. It wasn’t meant to celebrate in front of them, but it got a little far from my own. I celebrated by freezing a little, but Tromsø is a very nice city. I lost my head a little, Soltvedt told TV 2.

He had to be replaced with a shin splint.

– I had a bang in the 1st half which stiffened more and more, so I had to give up, said Soltvedt.

– Idiotic behavior

Aune Heggebø and Bård Finne also scored. The latter scored 16 goals last season, and quickly got going in the first league game of the year.

Lasse Nordås, who was replaced in the first half, reduced the score twice for Tromsø, but the hosts did not get any closer, who also had to endure a red card for Anders Jenssen a quarter of an hour before the end. He reacted strongly to a situation and received his second yellow card.

– An idiotic behavior by Jenssen, said TV 2’s football expert Jesper Mathisen.

Before the break, Brann got a cold shower when Ulrik Mathisen had to be replaced with trouble.

The captain was missing

Brann finished second behind league champions Bodø/Glimt last season and will play qualification for the conference league in the autumn. So will Tromsø, which has lost both coach Gaute Helstrup and stopper Jostein Gundersen to arch-rival Glimt this winter.

Assistant Jørgen Vik and Gard Holme have since been given coaching responsibility. The red and white striped ones finished in a strong third place last year.

– We were perhaps a little affected in the opening of the match, but then I think we will rise and have a good second half. We are on our way to something, Holme told TV 2.

On Monday, they had to manage without captain Ruben Yttergård Jenssen and new signing Vetle Skjærvik. They were both suspended after being sent off in training matches.

Brann opened well and had a great chance after five minutes, but Finne’s finish went over the bar.

After barely fifteen minutes, Finne was on the move again, but he did not finish before he was tackled by Jenssen. Afterwards, referee Sigurd Kringstad was sent over to the VAR screen, where he concluded that the tackle was of an illegal nature, and thus it was a penalty kick. Soltvedt was sure.

Brann continued to play well, and a few minutes later the ball was again in the goal. Mathisen got into the field and finished, but the ball went through Finne’s calf and put TIL goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard out.

Voltage

Five minutes before the break, Mathisen had to throw in the towel. Just before, it seemed that he felt something after a duel with Haugaard.

Eight minutes into the second half, Soltvedt scored again when he received the ball about 20 meters away. The 28-year-old, who has a good left-hander, had plenty of time and knocked it into the net.

Yaw Paintsil came very close to reducing after an hour but the ball skimmed the outside of the post. A few minutes later, the hosts would get their goal. Brann goalkeeper Mathias Dyngeland first saved Vegard Erlien’s shot, but on the return Nordås aimed well and found the corner.

Just under ten minutes later, Tromsø made a transition, and eventually Nordås got the ball out on the edge. He pulled away from the Brann defenders and finished well in the far corner.

Shortly afterwards, Jenssen had to leave the field after receiving two yellow cards. He got the first when he made a penalty in the 1st half. Heggebø was replaced after 83 minutes and did not need long to determine the result with a header on a post from Niklas Castro.