For a little over a month ago, Finnish Santeri Haarala was disappointed, after Djurgården had knocked out his Ilves from the Conference League qualifiers.
Now he has scored his first goal in the Djurgården jersey.
The Finn, who was presented by Djurgården on August 22, has impressed since joining the club, but goal production has been lacking. Now he has finally broken his goal drought in his new club, when he scored 1–0 away against Häcken at Bravida Arena.
Back as table runners-up
In the 65th minute, recently substituted Viktor Bergh sent a pass diagonally backwards into Häcken's penalty area, which found Santeri Haarala who easily could put the ball into the net.
Then the 24-year-old got to play 13 minutes more, before being substituted. But before that, Djurgården had managed to extend their lead to 2–0 through Tokmac Nguen.
The final score was 2–1, after a late home team reduction.
These three points are extremely important. We have had some poorer results, so this was very nice, says Haarala to Max.
Thus, Djurgården climbs back up to second place in the table, passing Hammarby after 22 played rounds. "The Blue Stripes" now also have only eight points up to Malmö at the top, with one game less played.
I try not to think about the title fight too much. I just think about the next match. When we win that, then we are one step closer to the title, continues the 24-year-old.
20-year-old's first Allsvenskan goal
Santeri Haarala was not the only one to score his first Allsvenskan goal in his career on Thursday evening. In the parallel match, Elfsborg hosted IFK Norrköping in an eventful fight.
At 1–0 lead to the home team, center-back Ibrahim Buhari received a red card, which allowed Norrköping to subsequently grow into the match and turn the deficit into a lead. But Elfsborg would still manage to save a point, when 20-year-old Timothy Ouma scored his first goal and reduced to 2–2.
Elfsborg thus dropped important points in the battle for European play next season, and now lies three points behind Hammarby in third place, with one game more played.
