– I lost my head a little

(Tromsø – Brann 2–4) Brann defender Joachim Soltvedt could enjoy two goals in the series opener. However, he was not as proud of the celebration.

Because when the Bergen native blew in a beautiful long shot in the second half and made it 3-0, he chose to celebrate in front of Tromsø’s home fans.

After the match, he made an apology to the supporters.

– It was not meant to celebrate against them. I wanted to run to my own, but it was a bit far away, says Soltvedt to TV 2. The full-back gestured as if he was freezing – which may remind you of Chelsea star Cole Palmer’s signature celebration.

– It was a bit stupid of me. I lost my head a little when I scored such a nice goal, says Soltvedt after the match.

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Soltvedt also scored 1–0 from the penalty spot. In other words, he was one of the game’s protagonists, along with teammate Bård Finne and Tromsø striker Lasse Nordås.

Only Amahl Pellegrino scored more goals than Finne (16 goals) last season. Pellegrino has now made the trip to the USA – and that makes Finne a hot candidate to become top scorer in 2024.

However, the Bergen native has not fine-tuned his aim yet, because in the opening minutes he burned a number of fat chances.

Fortunately for Brann, he made up for it when he scored a penalty afterwards after a felling by Anders Jenssen. Dead ball specialist Soltvedt made no mistakes from the chalk mark.

Then Finne would get his score – admittedly one of the lucky kind. Ulrik Mathisen shook himself free on the edge and finished. The ball went via Finne, before it changed direction into the nets behind Tromsø’s Jakob Haugaard.

– Brann have been very good and are clearly the best here, said TV 2 expert Jesper Mathisen in FotballExtra.

After the break, Soltvedt provided the moment of the match with his beautiful long shot from 25 metres. However, Lasse Nordås set up a nerve-wracking finish. First he put in a rebound to make it 3–1. He then reduced for the second time after a great solo performance.

– It was my fault that we conceded 1-3 right before I was replaced, so it was nice to get 4-2 and a bit of peace in the final minutes, says Soltvedt.

A small head mist by Anders Jenssen helped to sabotage the chances of a sensational comeback. Japhet Sery Larsen prevented an early start by Haugaard – which enraged Jenssen. For the outburst, the Tromsø player received his second yellow card.

Brann thus gained more control of the match and just before the end it was punctuated when Aune Selland Heggebø headed in 4–2.

After the match, Fire assistant Erik Huseklepp says that it was a good match by them, but he does not give it top marks.

– We lose the game at times. We are very good when we are good, but then we invite them into the game again, says Huseklepp to TV 2.

He points to the moment when Niklas Jenssen Wassberg scored 4–0, but had the goal canceled for offside.

– It was as if we got the air out of us after the cancellation. Something happened to us that brought them back into the game. We rowed it in at the end, so it was a perfect start to the season on a very difficult away ground, says Huseklepp.