IK Start - Sogndal Fotball

Norway – Tippeligaen

Kick-off:             03/Jul         18:00 CET

Pick:                  Sogndal Fotball (+1)

Odds:                 1,68 @ 188Bet

Stake:                6/10


Result:               1-1     Profit:   +4,08

Start fight against the relegation this year and the guys played without self confidence lately. Coach Knut Tørum has left the club two weeks ago but it did not help, they are still hopeless with Frode Fredriksen. They knocked out Strømsgodset from the cup with poor performance and some lucky but then lost against Vålerenga and Lillestrøm. I must mention that Lillestrøm’s goalkeeper Magnússon got red card in the 77th minute when the result was 1-0 and Start equalized after penalty but was unable to keep the result and Lillestrøm won by 2-1 deservedly.

Sogndal is still on the last place and seems hopeless after lost last game against Fredrikstad at home. But they had seven days to recover after a hard period when played four games during ten days, include Cup game with extra time and penalties. They eliminated against Brann and now concentrate only the championship. They played defensive minded football, I think Start is not strong enough at the moment and can not win by two or more goals margin against them, I see bigger chance for a draw than a huge home win. We can find only two games when Sogndal lost by two goals margin during the last three months, first against Brann, that was the worst match for goalkeeper Udjus, who performed well during the whole season but made huge mistakes against Brann. Second was against Molde but that was tighter match than the result shows, could have been 0-1 with a bit lucky. And of course Brann and Molde are both much stronger than Start this year.

Start will play with their best starting eleven likely while Sogndal will be still without team captain E. Bakke, it is not serious problem becouse he did not have a single good match this season which could have been expected. Regular central midfielder Furebotn and some reservist guys are still out due to injury problems. Both teams are in very bad form, this -1 asian looks too high for me. The visitors could be in better condition after rested seven days while the hosts played five games during two weeks and did not have big victory since 16th April. Much more handicap in my opinion, I expect a very tight game, 0-0, 1-1 or similar. The price dropped a lot despite that most of punters favoured Start, bookies know something...