*sniff*
*sniff*
*sniff*
Do you know?
It smells like gold in Ystad.
YIF needs to win three matches against IFK Skövde this spring to take the Swedish Championship gold.
On Thursday night, they took the first match, 30-28, away.
YIF’s first half was solid.
Twelve positions from six meters and eleven goals that way, 16 in total were brilliant.
The defensive game was over and even though the goalkeeping game may not have been optimal, Ystad still had a three-goal lead into the break, 16-13.
Kim Andersson’s dominance in the attacking play was extra enjoyable. The last goal, on the horn, was a left caress from 14 meters straight up the fork. Impossible to defend against and a psychological heavy blow for the home team.
YIF and Kim Andersson started the second half as they finished the first.
Skövde decided to stay clean on the line, sank down a bit and became vulnerable. Add a couple of goalkeeper saves, a couple of counterattacks and YIF had a four-goal lead in the back after six minutes.
Skövde needed to get a good start to the second half. But YIF got a better one. Despite great play by Skävde’s goalkeeper Viktor Bang, who replaced Fabian Nordsten.
It turned out to be a match where YIF always had a small lead and where Skövde always had to hunt.
But it took an expulsion bonanza, three in just over two minutes, from YIF for them to catch up.
But just over nine minutes left, Skövde made it 24-24 in game six against four. Game on and the audience also woke up, aware that they brought in a big disadvantage against IFK Kristianstad in the semifinals.
Skövde came in – but not over.
For YIF, the muscles in the defense tensed, sent the opponents away so they literally bounced back out at nine meters – and got a new two-goal lead.
Skövde came back, but, as said never passed.
With two and a half minutes, Hampus Karlsson stole the ball like a thief in the night, countered 26-28 and put YIF in the driver’s seat before the final two minutes. In addition, Karlsson scored 27-29 shortly afterwards.
Cool, quick in thought and quick in feet.
With barely a minute left to play, YIF went on the attack in the lead with 29-28 and a man (Nygren) sent off.
Timeout during passivity warning with 16 seconds left. A final finish that would either kill the match or give Skövde one last chance.
The attack became absurd.
Kim “Gandalf” Andersson threw the ball away, but luckily got it back when it looked lost after it bounced on a shuffler – and Johan Dahlin thundered the decision into the crossbar after a jump shot more rare than the turquoise Tibetan ollon drill.
YIF thus got a dream start to the final, which continues in Ystad Arena on Saturday.
Hampus Karlsson summed up.
– We had a period in the second half with an awful lot of twos and of course it disturbs, but we solved it – which is good.
– We stuck to the match plan for 60 minutes – that was what did it.
– We knew that we needed to win at least one match in Skövde and it was good that we did it immediately. We were connected immediately and kept calm even when they gained momentum when we got a lot of expulsions, said coach Oscar Carlén as if we know him right immediately, put match one aside and start writing the script for the match plan in Ystad on Saturday.
– Now it is 48 hours until the next match and we have a good feeling there.
Kim Andersson put his finger on the point that Skövde probably feels will be difficult to handle in the future.
– The defensive game has been our hallmark during the playoffs. We dare to play physically – we dare to take the initiative. We are not waiting. We act on the situations – we do not react, as we may have done before.
How do you feel before match two?
– It may very well beat us down in Ystad, but we have sat in a damn good seat. Now let’s go in and enjoy this.
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