2007.04.15 – League match – Start - Viking – 1-1

The opening match at Starts new home, Sør Arena, ended in a draw and Vikings Søren Berg wrote himself into the history books.

It was a poor first half in Kristiansand and the awful pitch led to the players struggling to find their feet. Nine minutes into the match Starts Fredrik Strømstad was brought down in the area by dark blues left back, Øyvind Svenning and Swedish striker Stefan Bärlin was given a great opportunity to score the first ever goal at Sør Arena. However, Bärlin could not handle the pressure and his penalty went miles over the crossbar into the celebrating Viking fans behind the goal.

The visitors from Stavanger came close on 21 minutes when Peter Ijeh was a whisker away from getting on the end of Hannes Sigurdssons header, but neither Start or Viking created much and the teams went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.

The second half was just as uneventful as the first and it wasn’t until the last fifteen minutes that things started to happen. In the 74th minute Vikings Danish forward Søren Berg became the first player to score at Sør Arena when the home sides’ goalkeeper Rune Nilssen misjudged a free-kick from the right and collided with Hannes Sigurdsson in the area. The ball fell out to Berg who elegantly headed the ball over Nilssen and the ball rolled into the back of the net, sending the 800 traveling Vikings supporters into ecstasy.

However, the celebrations were short lived as a misunderstanding in the dark blues defence led to Starts Ygor Marciel Santiago arriving in the area unmarked, and he connected with a cross from the left to equalize for the home side.

This sparked the home side into pushing for the winner and Vikings goalkeeper Iven Austbø made two wonderful saves to keep the visitors in the match. Right at the death, Jone Samuelsen and Nikolai Stokholm had chances to steal the points but both dark blues midfielders sent the balls high and wide, leading to a share of the points in the first ever encounter at Starts new home.

After the match is was alleged from Viking star Peter Ijeh that Starts Kristoffer Hæstad made racial remarks towards the Nigerian striker, but both clubs have decided to put the incident behind them and get on with football matters.

Match Facts
IK Start – Viking FK 1-1 (0-0)
Goals: 0-1 Søren Berg (74), 1-1 Ygor Marciel Santiago (75)
Yellow Cards: Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim (Start)
Attendance: 14 448
Referee: Tommy Skjerven

Start (4-3-3) – Rune Nilssen – Steinar Pedersen, Atle Roar Håland, Ygor Marcel Santiago, Kristoffer Paulsen – Anthony Annan (Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim 70), Fredrik Strømstad, Kristofer Hæstad – Morten Hæstad, Stefan Bärlin, Espen Børufsen (David Nielsen 61)

Viking (4-4-2) – Iven Austbø – Maurice Ross (Jørgen Tengesdal 84), Børre Stenslid, Ragnvald Soma, Øyvind Svenning – Søren Berg, Jone Samuelsen, Nicolai Stokholm, André Danielsen – Peter Ijeh, Hannes Sigurdsson

League Table (After 2 matches)
1.Lillestrøm, 6pts (GD 4-0)
2.Brann, 6pts (4-1)
3.Start, 4pts (5-3)
4.Rosenborg, 4pts (5-4)
5.Lyn Oslo, 3pts (4-3)
6.Tromsø, 3pts (4-4)
7.Sandefjord, 3pts (3-3)
8.Fredrikstad, 3pts (3-4)
9.Strømsgodset, 3pts (3-4)
10.Viking, 2pts (2-2)
11.Stabæk, 1pts (1-2)
-------------------------------
12.Vålerenga, 1pts (1-2)
-------------------------------
13.Odd Grenland, 0pts (1-3)
14.Aalesund, 0pts (2-7)