PREVIEW: WEEKEND NORWEGIAN ACTION Arch Bell - Thursday, October 8, 2009
The 1. Division gets top billing this weekend in Norway with Jay Needham and Alta in action at Tromsdalen while Connor Tobin hopes to see some minutes for Nybergsund versus Stavanger.
Tromsdalen - Alta
A visit to northern rivals Tromsdalen is on the docket for Jay Needham and Alta who continue their chase for promotion this Sunday at Tromsdalen Stadion in Tromso.
Needham will take his normal starting spot of central midfielder in head coach Aasmund Bjorkman's lineup.
Alta's season has been a rollercoaster as of late after the club recently suffered disappointing results against bottom feeders Skeid and Bryne leaving them close to the relegation zone in the league standings.
Yet after last week's hard-fought 1-0 victory over Notodden, Bjorkman's squad once again became a player in the promotion playoff hunt when Moss thumped fifth place Sarpsborg bringing Alta to within a reachable four points of the playoff position.
Needham and company also have the advantage of playing their next two matches against teams below them in the standings while Sarpsborg's are at home versus league leaders Honefoss and then on the road at second place Kongsvinger.
With just four matches remaining in the season, the native Texan and his teammates can no longer afford to lose any further ground should they want to become one of the most unlikeliest Eliteserien clubs in history.
Sunday's match is starting to shape up as a dramatic affair as Tromsdalen head man Morten Pedersen publicly declared earlier in the week that his team would emerge victorious.
On top of that, forecasters are predicting snow on Sunday as winter has apparently arrived to northern Scandinavia.
Bjorkman will hope that team leading scorer Vegard Braaten will return to his prolific scoring ways as the future Tromso man has been kept in check by defenses which has hampered the Alta attack.
Defender Hans Norbye is listed as questionable for the hosts while Alta will be fielding a full squad.
Notes
Connor Tobin will hope to see some meaningful minutes off the bench for Nybergsund who host relegation-bound Stavanger.
Currently visting YA: 331 
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