It was all change at the top of Damallsvenskan again as Piteå bested Eskilstuna leap-frogging Rosengård who lost away to Linköping and Göteborg who were denied by a late Vittsjö goal. Elsewhere in Sweden, Kristianstad brushed Kalmar aside as Djurgården came out on top against Växjö and a perfect second half saw Hammarby dispatch with LB07.
Kristianstad 4-0 Kalmar
Showing little restraint, the hosts took an early lead, Rita Chikwelu’s flashed cross nodded home at the back post by Amanda Edgren five minutes in. Too much for strugglers Kalmar to handle, Kristianstad soon had a second, Edgren on hand around the back post again to make it two, the potent attacker connecting well with Tine Schryvers’ whipped free kick. Two became three 17 minutes in when Chikwelu got in front of her marker to nick the ball under Lina Lundqvist, Kalmar’s inability to defend their own box once again their undoing. Cruising through the match, the hosts didn’t claim their fourth and final goal until the dying moments, the team stretched as Evelina Duljan got in behind, took the ball around the advancing goalkeeper and slotted it home for KDFF’s biggest league win this season.
Djurgården 2-0 Växjö
Two teams struggling for consistency this season, it was the hosts who claimed top marks at the Stockholms Stadion. With the ball sent forward by Irma Helin, Portia Boakye chased it down before feeding it into the box for Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir to slot just inside of the near post. Helin was involved again ten minutes before the break, her floated free kick nodded down by Mia Jalkerud, Katie Fraine’s intervention enough to curl the ball up into the air only for it to swing back on itself and drop down just inside of the line. With both sides going full guns but Fraine and Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir came up trumps in the second half to deny their respective opposition.
Piteå 2-0 Eskilstuna United
Facing a resurgent Eskilstuna side, Piteå regained the top spot with a win on a day when the two teams above them dropped points. Set up by the industrious work of Madelyn Janogy, Andrea Norheim was well found by her teammate, the young Norwegian left in space to slot the ball into the bottom corner. With their strength in youth, it was another young player who gave the hosts a cushion in the match, racing into the box to be first to a deflected effort from Nina Jakobsson, Julia Karlernäs claimed her eighth of the season when she fired the ball into the empty net.
Linköping 2-1 Rosengård
Both travel-weary after midweek matches in Ukraine and Russia, the two familiar foes showed little in the way of fatigue as they went at it at the Linköping Arena. Having already clipped the top of the bar with a speculative effort, Sanne Troelsgaard notched one of the goals of the weekend as she slammed the ball into the top left corner from 25-yards. The Dane was at the forefront again after the break, picking up two yellow cards in seven minutes to reduce the visitors to ten.
With a numerical advantage to match their home one, Linköping finally found a breakthrough when Zećira Mušović let Kosovare Asllani’s low effort slip under her just after the hour. Having finally gotten the better of the stubborn ‘keeper, the hosts were left to celebrate again seven minutes later after claiming a second with a devastating counterattack. Lina Hurtig’s pacey run up the left flank left room for Filippa Angeldal to jog into the box and flick the ball home behind Mušović’s near post. The match turning from bad to worse for the visitors as Nathalie Björn was shown a double-yellow for kicking the ball away immediately after conceding a foul, Rosengård forced to finish the match with nine as they dropped out of the top two.
Kopparbergs/Göteborg 2-2 Vittsjö
Top of the table going into the match, the hosts hit the ground running and were a goal to the good three minutes in courtesy of a looping header from Rebecka Blomqvist. Elin Rubensson’s close-range finish had Göteborg up by two less than 20 minutes in, but an inability to hold onto the lead cost the title chasers as Vittsjö came back firing in the second half. Scoring what was the goal of the afternoon, albeit into the wrong net, Filippa Curmark was left to hang her head after diverting a weak corner over Loes Geurts and into the far side of the goal. Denied a third by Shannon Lynn, the hosts were left to rue their missed chances as the ball worked itself towards Geurts’ goal in the last half minute of stoppage time, Hannah Wilkinson’s header dropping perfectly for Sofie Junge to slot home.
Limhamn Bunkeflo 1-3 Hammarby
Labouring at the foot of the table, LB07 missed out on a chance to close the gap between themselves and fellow Damallsvenskan strugglers as Bajen came from behind to strengthen their own position. A goal to the good half-way through the first half when Rakel Hönnudóttir was found with a ball over the top, the Icelandic attacker taking a touch before diverting it into the far corner, the second half saw a sterling comeback from the visitors. Restoring parity just after the hour, Emma Jansson converted from close-range after been fed by Olga Ekblom before Milica Mijatović gave Hammarby a late lead with a shot from range. The match put out of sight three minutes later by Jansson with the goal of the day, her strike from just inside of the area slipping around the back of Emma Lind as it thundered into the goal.
