Värnamo on Solid Ground – Winner in Anxiety-Filled Match

Tense, nervous, and not much organized play. It looked, with other words, like it should initially when two bottom teams know the value of the match.

Värnamo handled the anxiety best.

Central defender Michael Steinwender, the new acquisition from Hartberg, Austria, last summer, wildly celebrated a goal after half an hour of play. The jubilation quickly got stuck in his throat since he was in an offside position.

Wenderson, not entirely in balance, wasted an excellent opportunity shortly after. But it was a sign that Värnamo was approaching a breakthrough.

"An incredible joy"

And it came immediately, doubled up.

Luke Le Roux pushed in the long-awaited leading goal from close range after fine preparatory work by Johnbosco Kalu. There and then, Värnamo climbed above the two bottom lines of the table – and scored their first goal before halftime since the end of May.

Five minutes later, Victor Larsson scored 2–0.

It's an incredible joy. I'm not used to scoring goals, so I don't know what kind of goal celebration that was, he says in the halftime interview with Max when he sees the replay images.

We must defend ourselves better. It was too poor performance several times – and that's not enough, says Kalle Karlsson, VSK coach.

The defense improved, but the offense gave nothing. Therefore, Karlsson's team is still the Allsvenskan's bottom team.

Substitute Simon Thern believes that Värnamo will stay in the league.

With all respect for the teams around us, we feel stronger. It's by no means clear that we win this match. We have seven finals left and need to win as many as possible to keep the distance to the other teams, he says to Max.

The cat that became a celebrity

The cat Ester became a national celebrity when she ran onto the Finnvedsvallen grass during the match against Mjällby in June.

Now Ester is seen at the arena again – in the form of the painting "Match Hero" created by artist Anna Ileby, also Ester's owner.

It was just matchwinner Victor Larsson who took care of Ester and also inaugurated the artwork in connection with the bottom meeting.

Since the highly unexpected "storming of the pitch" had Värnamo won only one match, taken a paltry six points in ten matches, changed coaches, and sports manager Enes Ahmetovic resigned.

Now the downward trend was broken. And who knows, maybe because Ester got to be part of it again.