Botheim scores twice as Viking come from behind to beat Sabah
Viking recovered from conceding early to beat Sabah 4-1 on Champions League Matchday 4, with Erik Botheim scoring twice and Sabah finishing with ten men.
By Harvey Watkins,
Viking beat Sabah 4-1 at the Lyse Arena on Wednesday night, but the margin flatters how the evening began. Sabah led after 11 minutes, the match was level at the break, and Viking did not go ahead until the 69th minute. The scoreline only became emphatic after Sabah were reduced to ten men.
Sabah score first
Orphé Mbina gave Sabah the lead in the 11th minute. Away from home in the Champions League, that was the kind of start a visiting side would take, and for a quarter of an hour Sabah held it.
Viking drew level in the 27th minute through Erik Botheim. It stayed 1-1 until half-time, so after 45 minutes the two sides were still level and the game was still open.
Tripic puts Viking in front
The goal that turned the match came from Zlatko Tripic in the 69th minute. It is worth stressing that this came with eleven players on each side. Whatever followed, Viking had already taken the lead before the dismissal, and that is the most important fact in assessing the result.
At 2-1 with around twenty minutes left, Sabah were still within one goal of a draw.
The red card and the late goals
That changed in the 77th minute, when Aden McCarthy was sent off for Sabah. It was a straight red card rather than a second booking. From that point Sabah had to chase an equaliser a player short, and the match moved away from them quickly.
Henrik Falchener made it 3-1 in the 81st minute, four minutes after the dismissal, which effectively settled it. Botheim then added his second, and Viking's fourth, in the 94th minute, deep into stoppage time.
How to read the scoreline
The result can be read in two parts. Up to the 77th minute this was a close contest that Viking were edging: they had come back from a goal down and led 2-1. After the red card it became a much more comfortable night for them, with two further goals against ten men.
That does not take anything away from the win. Viking scored four times, recovered from an early setback without panic in the scoreline, and found the decisive goal while the numbers were still even. But anyone looking only at 4-1 would miss how long Sabah stayed in the match.
The key details:
- Viking 4-1 Sabah, Champions League Matchday 4
- Goals: Mbina 11 (Sabah); Botheim 27, 94, Tripic 69, Falchener 81 (Viking)
- Half-time: 1-1
- Sent off: McCarthy 77 (Sabah), straight red
For Botheim, two goals bookending Viking's scoring will be the individual headline. For Sabah, the lesson from the scoreline is a plain one. They were level or ahead for 69 minutes and lost by three.