HIF took their first premiership victory since 2019. Gefle was defeated at Gavlevallen after a strong red-blue first half – and a very dramatic second act.
Here are Gustav Lundblad’s five impressions from the match.
Gefle–HIF 2–3
0–1 Taylor Silverholt (23, penalty), 0–2 Benjamin Acquah (27, assist Wilhelm Loeper), 1–2 Adrian Edqvist (47), 1–3 Wilhelm Loeper (59, penalty), 2–3 Adrian Edqvist ( 76, assist Antonio Yakoub)
Public: 1866
HIF (4-4-2): Kalle Joelsson – Benjamin Örn, Jon Birkfeldt, Wilhelm Nilsson, William Westerlund – Wilhelm Loeper (Daniel Bergman, 90+4), Ervin Gigovic, Lukas Kjellnäs, Milan Silva Rasmussen (Arian Kabashi, 60) – Benjamin Acquah (Simon Bengtsson, 83) , Taylor Silverholt (Adam Hellborg, 83).
Unused substitutes: Nils Arvidsson, Adrian Svanbäck, Amar Muhsin.
Gefle (5-3-2): Oscar Jonsson – Adrian Edqvist, Jesper Merbom Adolfsson, Martin Rauschenberg, Kevin Persson (Samuel Adrian, 73), Sebastian Friman (York Rafael, 67) – Iu Ranera Grau, Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt, Constantino Capotondi (Antonio Yakoub, 73) – Leo Englund , Jacob Hero.
Unused substitutes: Tobias Johansson, Alvin Lättman, Albin Hjelm, Philip Ekman.
1. Three premiership points
HIF traveled to Gävle for the Superettan premiere after years of terrible starts to the seasons.
They travel home with three points after two well-managed penalties and a beautiful Benjamin Acquah goal.
The first premiership win for HIF since 2019.
The first HIF victory in Gävle since 2013.
After everything that happened, this was a dream start to the season – despite the dense, long, last-minute drama.
2. The fine first half
In the first half, HIF struck with some of the best 45 minutes of the year.
They kept the match in an iron grip on the artificial grass. During the first half hour, they sometimes outplayed Gefle.
HIF got a cheap penalty, managed it – high up on the left (Taylor Silverholt).
Gefle had a hard time getting through HIF’s 4-4-2 formation, which didn’t press hard, but which once stepped forward often won the ball.
The home team was almost harmless in the last third. They had a total of one finish in the half: A shot from Sebastian Friman on a cross from Adrian Edqvist, where Kalle Joelsson made a reflex save down at the front post.
A minute after that, Benjamin Örn won the ball in his own half. Wilhelm Loeper went past an old man, ran forward and passed the ball centrally to Benjamin Acquah, who turned and twisted and then made a neat 2-0 from 15 meters.
After that, Gefle had more of the possession – but without creating anything at all.
HIF had further good chances in the first half (a header by Benjamin Örn on a corner and a finish by Milan Silva Rasmussen, nicely played by Ervin Gigovic).
The situation was such that the match felt almost decided at halftime.
3. Gefle’s forcing
However, the match was not decided.
Gefle received a corner in the first attack after the break. After HIF did not get the ball away in the second wave, Adrian Edqvist was able to send in a reduction goal. The match was reopened and thus also started a nervous second act of this performance.
HIF stepped forward in the positions, scratched and Ervin Gigovic came close to scoring 3-1 after a corner, when Gefle captain Martin Rauschenberg cleared on the goal line.
Instead, HIF received a penalty a few seconds later, when Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt was deemed to have kicked Wilhelm Nilsson in the face in the mess in front of the goal.
Despite wild Gefle protests, HIF received the second penalty kick of the day.
Wilhelm Loeper made it 3–1 from eleven meters in the 59th minute.
Last season, Gefle overcame a 3–1 deficit at Gavlevallen against BoIS and equalized late to make it 3–3.
Now they tried to do the same thing again.
With about 20 minutes left, HIF started to look quite tired and Gefle got a little pressure towards HIF’s penalty area. In the 76th minute, Adrian Edqvist went past several players, played Kevin Yakoub and got the ball back inside the penalty area. He neatly scored his second goal and now it was a serious game.
HIF went to its knees when Gefle fed forward ball after ball and during a long stoppage came the memories of the score loss in the final minutes that HIF suffered several times last season.
Jakob Hjelte had a free header right in front of the goal in the 96th minute – but finished over.
The minutes passed. Ball after ball sailed into HIF’s penalty area. It was 99:56 when Daniel Bergman nodded away a flat cross. When the ball landed, the referee blew the match off.
HIF had ridden out the storm.
4. Despite everything: Good defensive play
Even though it got really dramatic in the final minutes, that Hjelte header was the only real scoring chance that Gefle created in the second half, in addition to the two goals.
Klebér Saarenpää deployed more and more defenders towards the end. The defenders sent away most of what Gefle loaded into the penalty area. They battled and fought against the light blues – and the fatigue – all over the course. They did enough to hold on to the lead.
From the first half, I would like to highlight Ervin Gigovic and Benjamin Acquah, who were enterprising centrally. Wilhelm Loeper was alert and got two points from the match. Milan Silva Rasmussen came through more than in most pre-season matches and put in one of his best efforts so far in the HIF shirt.
5. Kind judge?
HIF’s punishments were not the clearest in world history, they weren’t.
I wonder when HIF last received two penalties in the same match. Could it have been in the cup round of 16 against BoIS in 2011? Knowledgeable readers are welcome to get in touch with results.
In any case, the Gefle players were clear in blaming the referee for their loss in the TV interviews and they are not entirely wrong.
But football is about making the most of what you get and HIF did that today.
Now HIF sits with three points in the account, but also with a clearly identified area of improvement ahead of the home opener against Brage in eight days:
The defense of the own penalty area after fixed situations could have cost points today.
Players and coaches have to work with that during the week.
But tonight they are allowed to be really happy. They have earned it.
And so do all the red and blue in Northwest Skåne.
This year there was no nightmare start to the season.
It was long since the last time.
Photo: Bildbyrån
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