Räppevallen

Ground: Räppevallen

Visits: 1

Date: 6th May 2017

Match: Räppe GoIF - Prespa Birlik 2-3 (Division 2 Östra Götaland)

Attendance: 120

In 2022 Räppe moved to Nya Räppevallen

After winning Division 3 Sydöstra Götaland in 2016 Räppe Goif were promoted to Division 2 for the first time in the club´s history. The most southern of the six Division 2-leagues was last year named Division 2 Södra Götaland but this year it was renamed Division 2 Östra Götaland. Anyway, with Räppe being promoted I had to visit Räppevallen in Växjö to re-complete this league and the first Saturday in May was my first opportunity. With the weather forecast saying 21-22 °C and sunshine and I was looking forward to my visit even more and at 11.30 on the warmest day of the year so fay I set off for Räppevallen. The drive took me around 85 minutes and as I arrived the away players were inspecting the pitch. This was actually Räppe´s third home game of the year but their grass pitch had been in a poor condition and the first two home games were played on an artificial pitch in Växjö. The pitch looked ok to me though and after taking a few pictures I enjoyed my lunch in the nice weather.

The visitors in today´s game, Prespa Birlik from Malmö, played in Division 1 last year and are widely regarded as one of the favourites to win Division 2 Östra Götaland. I have to say I was quite impressed by Prespa Birlik who have a few really good players in their team. They missed a penalty early on but still made it 0-1 in the 11th minute. 10 minutes later Räppe equalized though and at half-time it was 1-1, hardly a fair scoreline by then. In the second half Prespa Birlik created so many chances it was difficult to keep track of them. It was a long time ago I saw a team miss as many clear cut chances as Prespa Birlik did today. They still managed to score two goals in the second half though but could easily have score 10 goals in this game. Räppe pulled a goal back with 10 minutes to go but this game could only have one winner and in the end Prespa Birlik won 3-2 at Räppevallen. Räppe will have to fight to avoid relegation but I am sure Prespa Birlik will finish in the top three of Division 2 Östra Götaland.