Oskarshamns AIKGround: Arena Oskarshamn Visits: 1 Date: 1st June 2013 Match: Oskarshamns AIK - Lindsdal 1-2 (Division 2 Södra Götaland) Attendance: 371
In my bid to visit every ground in top three divisions in Sweden I have been looking at possible fixtures at Rosvalla IP, the home of Nyköping BIS. Nyköping is about 470 km from Kristianstad and I wanted to combine Nyköping with a Division 2 match. The first Saturday of June Oskarshamn hosted local rivals Lindsdal in Division 2 Södra Götaland and with Nyköping playing Dalkurd in Division 1 Norra the following day I decided to visit these matches. Oskarshamn vs Lindsdal is a derby and the biggest match of the year for both clubs. Most clubs in Division 2 Södra Götaland are 250-300 km from Oskarshamn. Lindsdal is about 60 km down the road so this was as good as its gets for me in this division. As I left Kristianstad at 11am it was sunshine but it soon started to rain. The drive along the E22 to Oskarshamn took me around 3 hours and on the way I passed Lindsdal. I had decided to stay in Oskarshamn for the night and after checking at my hotel I then had something to eat at the McDonalds next to the ground.
Arena Oskarshamn is actually a complex with an ice-hockey arena and other facilities for indoor sports as well as the athletics ground where Oskarshamns AIK play their matches. There is a main stand on the west side of the ground with around 600 seats. Seats might actually be the wrong word since you are sitting directly on the concrete. The east side doesn´t have a proper stand but that side is elevated giving spectators a good view of the action. It rained through-out the afternoon in Oskarshamn but with an artificial pitch the playing surface still looked perfect.
With the weather being quite poor most fans arrived less than 10 minutes before kick-off. In total 371 was at Arena Oskarshamn this Saturday afternoon for the "E22 derby". Oskarshamn started the better team and in the 25th minute they made it 1-0 from a deflected free-kick. Oskarshamn then had several chances to score again but it was Lindsdal who scored the next goal, 1-1 at half-time. In the second half there was only one goal. This goal was a stunning free-kick from 30 yards. The goal was scored by Lindsdal and a bit surprisingly they hold on to their lead and could win the E 22 derby. As I left the ground the rain had all but stopped. Unfortunately the poor weather knocked 3-400 off the attendance but almost 400 is still a decent crowd for level 4 football in Sweden. Tomorrow I leave Oskarshamn for Nyköping and hopefully the sun will be out then!
Arena Oskarshamn, Entrance
South End
West Stand
North End
East Stand
Players entering the pitch
Kick-off
My view
View of Arena Oskarshamn
View of Arena Oskarshamn
West Stand
West Stand
West Stand
A closer look....
View of play
Pano
Pano |