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| End of the line for Viking |
Viking North Utsire were, inevitably, outclassed by Aardvark Owls in what was a first ever Ultimate League Cup semi-final appearance for VelvetAndroid's club, who went down 2-0 in a one-sided match to an Owls team -- who themselves were on their way to what would prove an agonising second straight defeat in the final.
Monday's penultimate league fixture then brought an extraordinarily bittersweet 2-2 draw at home to Bristol Reds. Manager Android has battled so hard this season to hold his team together despite having virtually no econs the entire campaign and a terrible string of luck with midfield injuries -- and somehow despite this VNU produced their best ever cup run and remained unbeaten in the league (conceding just 3 goals in the first 11 games) until a week previously.
This time, needing a win against the Reds to secure a promotion slot back to Division 1, Android had one of his three senior midfielders (Johan Kvalvik) suspended and one (Ingolf Kvalvik) still unfit while recovering from a 21-day injury sustained in the cup quarter-final win over House of Stark. The sole remaining one, Magnus Hovland, then got crocked with 11 minutes to go on Monday.
In the short term it actually helped slightly, as the Bristol player who fouled him got sent off, and Ingolf hobbled off the bench as an emergency replacement and scored the 87th-minute equaliser -- his 12th goal of the season -- to rescue a remarkable point after Viking had been 2-0 down with 20 minutes to play.
But poor Magnus, after having had just 7 injury days in total across the first 17 seasons of his career, has now added 51 (FIFTY ONE) this season. He only did his first ever stretcher job (17 days) at the start of the campaign against the Reds in the reverse fixture, suffered a minor knock for 4 days against Deadly Girls of Brasil in the 5th-round cup win, took a 15-day red cross against Sunne BK in the 6th-round cup win at the end of last month, and now after about a week back fit he's taken another 15-day one this week.
Johan had already suffered a 20-dayer in the first league match of the season, so the three of them have had a combined 92 days' injuries this term -- plus, in Johan's case, two more games lost to suspension. All three of them are now certain to lose skill at the end of this season.
Despite 10 straight weeks on top of Div 2b, if the Norsemen lose their last match at FC Bayern Münich there's a good chance they could miss out on the top 2 places altogether, with Beverley Town a single point behind them in 2nd and Wollaston Phoenix just a point further behind in 3rd. Even if the Utsirans do go up, the side won't look nearly strong enough to compete at Division 1 level.
"I'm wondering if I should take the hint the game is clearly trying to send me," said a clearly emotional Android, who has been in charge at Dogger Bank for nearly eight years, after the latest setback. Rumours are that the frustrated Viking manager may now choose to finally seek a different challenge next season.
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