Hammarby took a step closer to safety with a hearty win over Örebro as Vittsjö held DIF and Kvarnsveden slipped up away to LB07 before Eskilstuna came from behind to draw in Piteå. Needing a win at home and a loss in Göteborg to lift the Damallsvenskan title with three matches to play, Linköping picked up all three points at home to Kristianstad as Rosengård were held by KG, the title as of yet, unclaimed.
Limhamn Bunkeflo 1-0 Kvarnsveden
Solid chances were at a premium in Malmö when LB hosted a KIK team desperately looking for safety, the visitors with the better of the chances over the first hour, Emma Lind’s smart save to deny Tabitha Chawinga her 25 of the season just after the restart vital for the hosts. The deadlock broken five minutes from time when Mia Persson found herself in space on the far side of the box to send Anna Welin’s low ball home for LB’s eighth win of the year.
Djurgården 1-1 Vittsjö
Katrin Schmidt’s goal just before the break looked to have DIF cruising in the game after the hosts had weathered a light early storm from Vittsjö but unable to further their lead with a number of good chances the hosts were made to pay in the last knockings. Well out of the game in the second-half, the visitors clawed back a point at the death when Linda Sällström’s stooping header from Genessee Daughetee’s cross slipped past Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir’s fingertips to all but consign DIF to a mid-table finish.
Hammarby 6-1 KIF Örebro
Starting their rout at home early, Julia Zigiotti chested the ball home from Filippa Angeldahl’s sixth minute corner before Angeldahl served the ball up for Alma Nygren to poke over the line two minutes later. Zigiotti involved again ten minutes later, her ball into the mixer enough to leave the centre backs in a muddle and Frida Sjöberg free to sweep it home for Bajen’s third of the game.
Despite the score it wasn’t all one-way traffic although it was the hosts who were having much more joy with what they created, their fourth coming just before the break Nygren finishing low to the far corner after determined work from Zigiotti. Olga Ekblom got in on the action after the break, setting the ball for Angeldahl to power through Carola Söberg from 20-yards, the ‘keeper left wanting a second chance to hold onto the meaty shot.
There was at least a modicum of joy for the visitors when Julia Spetsmark turned Jenny Hjohlman’s low cross home, robbing Emma Holmgren of a clean-sheet from two yards. A consolation for the team that haven’t quite looked right all year.
After setting up her teammate for the fifth, Ekblom made the sixth all her own, slipping round the pushed-up defence to pick up Kajsa Sund’s threaded ball and clinically finish from the top of the box.
Linköping 1-0 Kristianstad
Linköping all but secured their third league title with a narrow win at home to KDFF, Kristine Minde’s super first-half solo goal enough to separate the two at the whistle and keep all three points with the reigning champions.
Having a better time of it in the first-half, the hosts found themselves stretched after the break and under heavy pressure from Kristianstad though they did well to weather the storm and take one big step towards their next silverware.
Piteå 2-2 Eskilstuna United
Madelen Janogy opened the scoring for the host in foggy conditions in Piteå when she flicked the ball into the far side of the net before the half-hour, the lead doubled just before the break when June Pedersen’s lofted corner found its way all the way through.
The mountain became a molehill for United, who were still chasing down FCR in second, when Matilda Plan was shown two yellows just after the break but were given a boost late in the day when Petra Johansson hammered Mimmi Larsson’s lay-off past Hilda Carlén. The numerical advantage mattering not as the visitors dug out a later equaliser when Olivia Schough slipped her spot kick beyond Carlén’s outstretched gloves after being felled in the box.
Kopparbergs/Göteborg 1-1 Rosengård
Needing a win to keep themselves as buoyant as possible in the race for the top spot, Rosengård hit the ground running in Gothenburg when Ella Masar hammered the ball home from the far side of the box. Scoring with ease in the midweek, FCR struggled to find a second and were fast punished when Elin Rubensson fed Adelina Engman, the Finn’s short pass to Pauline Hammarlund flicked over Zećira Mušović and into the roof of the net.
Fighting to regain their title, Rosengård kept plugging away but up against a team fighting for their own survival, couldn’t find a route back through and were forced to settle for the point, KG giving themselves a glimmer of hope at the tail end of the season.
