We played our first game of this second half of the Toppserien season tonight and it was not a great performance by us.  The match against Trondheims-Ørn ended up being one of those "work your butt off" games: Games where you just have to put your head down and run your tail off. Nothing else seemed to be working. Trondheims-Ørn went ahead twice in the match, but two second-half goals by Strommen were enough to take the home team into a final 3-2 score.

The first half was something of a disaster all round. Trondheims-Ørn scored in about the 4th minute, from a cross on a free kick. Much of the fault was mine, as I thought I could win the header. Instead, it was flicked through and my mark went in on net alone and scored. It was my error, and all the more embarrassing as I had been named captain for the match.

I am very honored at the appointment, but I am looking forward to both our real captain and our vice-captain returning to play. Wearing the captain's armband gives many added responsibilities.

After my early error, I made some amends by scoring the tying goal after Marithe Kauffman, back from a long injury, did well to make a shot which the goalie could only parry aside. I managed to put a toe on the ball and put it in the net.

Unfortunately, they scored again, and once more from a free-kick and some poor marking. I don't think anyone in particular was to blame for this goal, but it does mean that we need to spend more time in planning our coverage. The Trondheim captain put in a quick flick that went over our keeper's head. It was a nice goal, but it was one we gifted to them.

We equalized well when D was pulled down just outside the box on the right. Marit, our left footed, free-kick, goal scoring machine, took it beautifully. No one on our team was surprised when it curled into the top right hand corner of the net. Level again.

Our winning goal was scored by Una, and this was a fantastic individual effort. Nas played the ball up to me, but I didn't read it right and just let the ball roll towards the keeper. Una had other ideas. She made a great run behind the defenders' backs and managed to catch up to the ball and score from an insane angle. t was a goal scorer's goal.

On no account was this the prettiest of wins, but a win is a win is a win, and we will take it. Things just didn't go our way for much of this game. Everyone's legs seemed heavy, and I think every soccer player knows this feeling. We showed really good character by coming back twice and I liked how everyone put everything out on the line in order to eke out the victory. Some matches you just have to win like this.

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