Junker is the smartest striker in Norway – VG

BODØ (VG) (Bodø / Glimt-Mjøndalen 2-0) Kasper Junker (26) took the chance when Jens Petter Hauge was sold and Philip Zinckernagel injured: He scored two, won the match for Glimt – and equaled the two teammates. All three now have 14 league goals.

– There are many good attacking players in Norwegian football. But we have the smartest of them all – Kasper Junker; not only does he score anyway, he makes the others good too, says Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen to VG, after three new points have been secured at Aspmyra.

Junker, this time placed on the edge; it certainly did not matter so much: He scored two anyway.

– The feeling was that it was the right solution when Philip Zinckernagel was not ready, because Junker has the smartness needed to solve the task in the best way, explains Knutsen – who had given the Dane quite free rein, defensively.

– We hit well, Knutsen concludes. He wanted to use Victor Boniface as a striker, because he is extremely good at holding the ball – which would be important against a physically strong Mjøndalen.

The match winner himself admits that he prefers to play striker, but that he would of course help the team – regardless of position.

– I scored at two important times. And this victory was important. We are getting closer, says Kasper Junker – up to 14 league goals now.

It’s not always “going to win matches” that easy. But Bodø / Glimt fixed it – on the go. It will probably only take two more victories, a maximum of three, before the series gold is secured.

– We knew it would be tough and tight. Last year we played 0-0 against Mjøndalen at Aspmyra. Our focus was that we should not be frustrated that they delayed time and got many stops in the game. I feel that we did a good job. We fought our way into the fight. And some matches must be like that too, the most important thing was to win, and we managed that, says Glimt captain for the day, Patrick Berg.

It smelled good for Glimt towards Mjøndalen. The relations did not sit as usual, it was longer between the good, classic Glimt attacks. And Mjøndalen made it, as expected, difficult for the league leader. In addition: The wind that swept over Aspmyra on Sunday night, it was not easy to play fast, precise passing game with …

Good teams tend to have luck with them as well. Glimt had it when referee Marius Hansen Grøtta awarded a penalty kick after a quarter of an hour. The referee thought that Marius Høibråten was torn down former Glimt player Ole Amund Sveen.

The pictures show that it was very strictly sentenced, and that the judge should have left the whistle in that situation.

Kasper Junker got, anyway, two chances from the penalty spot since two Glimt players ran within 16 meters on the first. He scored on both. 1–0 Glimt.

Mjøndalen, in a strong tailwind, got two great chances, both by Sondre Liseth. Both times, the culprit from the match against Molde, goalkeeper Nikita Khajkin, masterfully cleaned up. A small revenge for the Russian there.

Glimt did not manage to take advantage of the tailwind in the first half of the second half, but midway through the half Ola Solbakken and Ulrik Saltnes each got their great opportunity – without outsmarting Sosha Makani. Sondre Liseth got a third chance to score on Haikin – without success. And then the wind took hold, again, helped Glimt in attack, Ola Solbakken fought, fell, but the ball went to Kasper Junker who was suddenly all alone with goalkeeper Makani. The Dane, in an unfamiliar edge role in the absence of his roommate Philip Zinckernagel, made no mistake. 2-0 Glimt, and the victory, the 19th in 22 games, seemed certain.

It was then too.

Eight games left. Glimt leads with 16 points. It will take another earthquake to deprive Bodø of its first league championship now.

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