HIF Head To The Summer Break With Work To Do

Our support of Helsingborg this summer continues as we follow their progress in the second tier of the Swedish footballing pyramid.

HIF head into their last game before the summer break off the back of two heavy defeats against their promotion rivals.

Preamble

Having had the chance to play the two other teams vying for automatic promotion and suffering heavy defeats to both, HIF had one remaining chance to go into the summer break on a positive note when they travelled to IFK Värnamo.

IFK Värnamo were sitting mid-table, just four points off the relegation zone but six from the promotion places. At this stage of the season it seems the team had not yet made up its mind if it wanted a promotion or a relegation battle.

HIF, on the other hand, still reeling from 4-0 and a 5-0 thumpings from Brommapojkarna and Dalkurd respectively, risked losing ground on the top two and falling into the clutches of the teams chasing for a play-off spot.

Round 14: IFK Värnamo v Helsingborgs IF

The first half was a pretty uneventful and uninspiring match reminiscent of two teams who had nothing to play for on the eve of their holidays. However, while Värnamo are not sure which fight they want to take part in, promotion or relegation, HIF should be scrapping for every win they can get.

Just as the first half was about to come to the end,the visitors conceded a penalty. The resulting kick was taken in the same pedestrian manner in which the first half had been played in and the HIF goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski made a decent save.

Pyzdrowski, born and raised in Illinois, America has been subject to a lot of criticism of late and his penalty save might go some way to taking some of the pressure off his his shoulders. 

Pyzdrowski has always seemed to be a poor man’s Petr Cech to me, based purely on this choice of wearing protective headgear like the Arsenal stopper. That’s where the similarities begin and end.

HIF got off to a good start in the second half when Andreas Landgren nodded in a cross early on to make it 0-1 to the visitors. Maybe they could begin to think about taking three valuable points and ending the first half of the season on a high note?

I think you know what’s coming though… Unfortunately, it only took five minutes before Melvin Frithzell scored Värnamo’s reply when he slotted the ball into the net from close range.

The match was there for the taking once again.

After the home side’s goal, HIF were the better team but it seems their ability to shoot didn’t get the memo. Time after time their efforts on goal were high, wide and not very handsome. In fact, maybe they would achieve more success if they formed a rugby side!

The game petered out without either side having another serious attack on goal and in the end the draw was probably a fair result.

Final Score: 1:1
Goals: 0-1 Landgren (48 min) 1-1 Frithzell (53)
Attendance: 2,270

Next up: Örgryte IS

Work To Be Done

HIF have a lot of work to do between now and when the season resumes on 22nd July. Örgryte are the visitors to Olympia and that will not be an easy game as they are just three points behind Helsingborg who go into the summer break third in the table.

League leaders Brommapojkarna lost in this latest round of games so HIF are fortunate to be only ten points off the top of the division. More worryingly for them is the gap to second placed Dalkurd who are five points ahead of them.

There are five teams within four points of catching HIF but more worrying is the amount of goals they are conceding. Something needs to happen in the transfer window and on the training pitch to arrest how many they are shipping. At the moment it is 22 in the against column, and unless they address that they can forget about a return to the top fight.

The second half of the season will be a struggle and the teams behind them will be eager to catch up. It’s never easy being a big club in a division of smaller teams. They are easily the biggest team in the division and for them to miss out on promotion would be unthinkable. Not only in terms of prestige but financially. The next five months will make or break Helsingborg.

Superettan Table – 2017-06-27

League Rules:

• Thirty game season.
• Top two teams are promoted.
• Third placed team plays a two legged play-off match with the third from bottom team in Allsvenskan.
• Bottom two teams are relegated.
• Third and fourth from bottom teams play a two legged play-off match with 3rd placed team in Division 1 North and Division 1 South respectively.

If you would like to know more about the Swedish football pyramid, click here.

Squad Statistics: