Pukeberg

Ground: Pukevallen

Visits: 1

Date: 14th September 2019

Match: Pukeberg - Växjö Norra 3-1 (Division 3 Sydöstra Götaland)

Attendance: 156

In the top five divisions in Sweden I nowadays only have a handful of grounds within a 2-hour drive to visit. One of those grounds is Pukevallen in Nybro, the home of Pukebergs BK. At the first I was not planning to attend a match this weekend but that changed on Friday evening. Knowing Pukeberg played Växjö Norra, an important match at the top of the table in Division 3 Sydöstra Götaland it was not difficult to decide where to go. Kick-off was at 14.00 and after 1h 55 min of driving I could park my car outside Pukevallen. The weather was nice this Saturday afternoon in mid-September and the ground is another of those lovely lower league grounds you can find in the Swedish countryside. With Växjö Norra being 3rd and Pukeberg 4th in the table it was important for both teams to win. After this weekend only two rounds remain and the winner of today´s encounter has a good chance of reaching 2nd place which means promotion play-offs. For Pukeberg that would be a fantastic achievement. Founded in 1930 2019 is the first ever season for them at this level in the Swedish league pyramid.

Växjö is around 75 km from Nybro at as the game started I could spot a few away fans in the crowd. The official attendance was given as 156 and that is decent attendance in Division 3. Pukeberg took the lead early on but at half-time it was 1-1 on the score-board. The second half was not as entertaining as the first half and there were not many chances to get excited about. In the 74th minute Pukeberg were awarded a penalty though and it was suddenly 2-1. In the final minutes they scored again to win 3-1. Pukeberg is now only a point behind Sölvesborg in second place and it will be interesting to follow the last rounds of the league.