Östersund - Timrå, Swedish Divison 2, Norrland
2004-06-09 19.00 CET
Pick: Östersund (Asian hcp 0:0)
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,52
Place 2,15% on Östersund at odds 2,10
Place 0,85% on Draw at odds 3,60
Final reasons
This is a game between two of the title favourites. However, their respective start of the season differs quite much. Östersund has started the new season better than they use to. They are still unbeaten after six rounds. At home they have two victories and one draw from the last home game against tough Robertsfors. Timrå has not started well and has only two victories so far. When playing on the road they have only collected one point from three attempts. We believe that current form will decide the outcome of this game and therefore we suggest a bet on Östersund. However, we take it very careful for two reasons; Östersund has only scored eight goals so far and since Timrå’s best part of the team has been their defence we do not believe that Östersund will score many goals. The other fact is that Timrå has a very good squad on the paper with quite a lot of new signings. Normally it takes time to perform well with many new faces, and we believe that this is the main reason for Timrå’s poor start this year. However, when they find their form they have a team that can compete with the best in the league. With this in our mind we suggest an Asian handicap that gives all the stake back if the match ends with a draw despite the fact that the odds become quite low. 3% stake.
General comment about the game
Tonight we have found one match in the Swedish division two that we recommend. Promotion hopefuls Östersund will take on Timrå at home on Hofvallen. Östersund has been chasing the title for a couple of years now and this season is no exception. Last year they finished second after Friska Viljor. Since Friska Viljor won in the playoffs and reached Superettan, Östersund has one less opponent for the title. Östersund has started the new season in a promising way with four victories and two draws from their six played games and currently they reside in third place, four points after table toppers IFK Luleå. These two teams together with Umeå have started best and have already created a small gap to the other teams. During the weekend Östersund played away against Skellefteå and won with 1-0. The first half was dominated by the hosts since Östersund was lacking fighting spirit and effort. Fortunately their defence played very good so Skellefteå could not manage to create any real danger. In second half Östersund changed their formation from 4/3/3 to 4/4/2 and that proved to be a very good move by coach Kvarnlöv. Östersund played like a different team and created a lot and scored the winner 30 minutes before full time. So far this season Östersund has started many matches as they did against Skellefteå and then gradually improved during game. When they meet Timrå tonight we believe that they have to be on their toes right from the beginning if they want to win the match. Timrå has proved in the pre season and also in the Swedish cup that they are a tough team to meet; Östersund lost in the cup and in the pre season the match ended 3-3. So, the Östersund players are out for revenge and we believe that they will manage this because they are in a better form than their opponents. We should not forget that the league is the competition that counts and Östersund has so far showed a more stable and better play than Timrå. Östersund has no important players missing.
Timrå is one of the favourites to win the title this year. This is somewhat surprisingly since they have lost eleven players since last year; six of them were first team regulars. However, the outside expectations must be due to the fact that they have some new interesting signings and also their pre season results. Their two most noticeable new signings are creative midfielder Joakim Olsson and striker Mattias Thorsell, both with experience from Allsvenska GIF Sundsvall. During the EM break in Allsvenskan they have also borrowed central defender Stefan Ålander from GIF Sundsvall. According to the manager Anders Högman the club’s own goal for the season is to finish among the five best teams. The beginning of the season has not been favourable for Timrå since they have only managed to win twice on six attempts. Last game was at home against struggling Luleå SK. Timrå won with 2-1 but did not impress. The visitors had 1-0 after the first half but two goals from Mattias Thorsell turned the match around. The result was not fair since Luleå had some good opportunities to score in second half. Timrå has no injury or suspension worries for tonight’s match.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-06-05 |
Skellefteå-Östersund |
0-1 |
|
2004-05-31 |
Östersund-Robertsfors |
1-1 |
|
2004-05-22 |
Östersund-Luleå SK |
3-1 |
|
2004-05-15 |
Kiruna-Östersund |
1-1 |
|
2004-05-08 |
Östersund-Anundsjö |
1-0 |
Recent games for away team
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2004-06-06 |
Timrå-Luleå SK |
2-1 |
|
2004-05-31 |
Kiruna-Timrå |
1-0 |
|
2004-05-22 |
Timrå-Anundsjö |
3-0 |
|
2004-05-15 |
Spårvägen-Timrå |
1-1 |
|
2004-05-08 |
Timrå-Sandviken |
0-2 |
Home table
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Östersund |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5-2 |
7 |
Away table
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Timrå |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4-6 |
1 |
Links for this game
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Östersund: |
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Timrå: |
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// SportsObserver 040609
