Djurgården Edge Out Tenacious Kalmar as Malmö Secures First Points Against GAIS

Djurgarden 3-2 Kalmar

With a promising beginning and a strong finish, Djurgarden has kept their 100% start to the season, though their narrow victory over newly-promoted Kalmar didn’t tell the entire story, as Kalmar has faced defeats in their first two matches since returning to the top tier.

The Stockholm outfit took the lead within two minutes, when Mikael Marques sprinted down the right flank, and his low cross was finished neatly into the bottom corner by Bo Hegland.

Just five minutes later, Djurgarden doubled their lead; Oskar Fallenius managed to split the visiting defence, and despite Jakob Kindberg saving his attempted shot, Kristian Lien was quick to pounce on the loose ball and slot it home.

However, Kalmar fought back before the half-hour mark, with Robert Gojani’s pinpoint ball over the top being taken down by teenager Charlie Rosenqvist, who finished well for his first goal in the Allsvenskan. Shortly after, Melker Hallberg’s half-cleared corner was sent back into the box and nodded in by Achraf Dari.

After some exceptional saves from Kindberg in the second half to keep Kalmar level, Djurgarden finally broke the deadlock with just five minutes left, when Matias Saltinen delivered a cross from the right and Lien headed it in, despite a possible offside call.

Though he missed a chance for a hat-trick when his penalty hit the post in added time, Djurgarden had done enough to temporarily sit atop the league table.

Malmo 3-1 GAIS

Malmo notched their first points of the season with a strong first-half performance, leaving GAIS still without any points. They opened the scoring in the 21st minute, when Jens Stryger Larsen sent in a cross that was met by a powerful header from Pontus Jansson, crashing in off the crossbar.

Just over 15 minutes later, it was 2-0 as GAIS goalkeeper Kees Sims made a disastrous clearance that fell straight to Oscar Sjostrand, who calmly rolled the ball through Sims’ legs.

Five minutes later, the scoreline swelled to 3-0 as Sims faltered again, failing to properly handle a Taha Ali cross, which led to a scramble in the box and allowed Otto Rosengren to bundle the ball over the line.

GAIS managed to grab a late consolation with Shalom Ekong scoring after receiving a through ball from William Milovanovic, firing past Robin Olsen. However, Malmo had more than earned their first league win under the stewardship of Miguel Angel Ramirez.

Halmstad 0-3 Degerfors

Degerfors, who previously started the season with a home loss, have bounced back convincingly by handing Halmstad a 3-0 defeat away from home, leaving Halmstad as one of five teams yet to earn any points.

Conceding just a minute before half-time was a harsh blow for Halmstad, especially given the nature of the goal; they failed to clear a corner, and during the ensuing chaos, Daniel Sundgren struck a sweet volley that left goalkeeper Tim Ronning with no chance.

The advantage was doubled a little over 10 minutes into the second half when Sebastian Ohlsson allowed the ball to drop over his shoulder and unleashed another volley into the net, though Ronning should have dealt with that much better.

The rout was capped off three minutes into stoppage time, when Nahom Girmai’s low delivery was turned in at the back post by Marcus Rafferty.