Lawrence Witnesses Eleven Goal Thriller!

By: Jostein Jensen
Date: 22/07/2001

GRIMSBY manager Lennie Lawrence should have caught an entertaining match on his scouting mission in Norway on Sunday. He saw the Tippeliga leaders beat Strømsgodset 7-4! The Grimsby squad is based in Malmø at the moment, but Lawrence travelled to Norway to see Lillestrøm's Arne Vidar Moen.

The central defender had a tough task with the Strømsgodset striker Jostein Flo who scored two goals in the 11 goal clash at Åråsen. Maybe the Grimsby boss was most impressed with the Swedish Lillestrøm striker Magnus Powell who showed 'Flower Powell' when he scored four goals! Following the win Lillestrøm now lead the table by one point ahead of Viking and Stabæk. It will be interesting to see if Arne Vidar would be allowed to leave before the Norwegian season ends in October.

A crowd of 5,469 must have got a shock with 7 goals in the first half. Lillestrøm's Stian Berget made it 1-0 after 14 minutes after a cross from the side. One minute later Powell doubled the lead for the Canary's with a fantastic shot to the left for the Godset goalie. After a weak start it was now Lillestrøm who were totally dominating the game. The giant Strømsgodset striker Jostein Flo should have reduced the deficit on 20 minutes, but the former Blades striker managed to steer a long shot from Gislason into the net. Then LSK scored two more goals from Powell after 23 and 36. minutes - the first one was a volley into the corner of the net, while the 4-1 goal came after brilliant work by the Aussie Clayton Zane. Two minutes before the end it was the Australian top scorer Clayton Zane netting to be the scoreline 5-1 - and the fans surely went 'in-Zane'! David Hansén managed to get past the Lillestrøm defence just before the break to make it 5-2.

After six minutes in the second half Hansén scored again from a 18 meter long free kick - Misund in the Lillestrøm goal had to pick out the third ball out of the net. After a hour's play Powell once again impressed the crowd when he got the ball in the middle of the pitch. The strong striker showed pace and from just outside the penalty box he fired to make it 6-3! Jostein Flo scored once more for the team from Drammen, the tall striker who is the brother of Tore André Flo headed in to make the score 4-6 following poor work from Misund in the 'keeper's area. After 80 minutes the referee Terje Hauge pointed at the penalty mark and Lillestrøm's left back Torjus Hansén scored from the spot.

Eleven goals in one match doesn't mean that the defensive qualities were at its highest, but the strikers were very good which meant more goals and entertainment for the spectators. The Lillestrøm boss Arne Erlandsen was happy despite his team letting in 4 goals against the bottom side. "I'm pleased with the match - 11 goals is entertaining and as long we score seven of them I can't complain," said the highly respected Lillestrøm manager.

Last time Lawrence watched a Norwegian Tippeliga match he also saw many goals when he travelled to Bergen last season. On that day Brann won 4-3 over Molde and Lennie would have talks with Molde's Knut Anders Fostervold shortly afterwards. The large left back would later end in Grimsby where he made 10 league appearances for the Mariners. Lennie Lawrence later admitted that he was actually looking at a striker in the match on that day, so if the Grimsby manager said he was only looking at Arne Vidar Moen in this match you shouldn't be surprised if Town end up with some of the goal scorers instead!

Lillestrøm (4-4-2): Per Magne Misund - Peter Werni, Arne Vidar Moen, Torgeir Bjarmann, Torjus Hansén - Stian Berget, Magnus Kihlberg, Espen Søgård, Pål Strand - Clayton Zane, Magnus Powell.

Strømsgodset (4-3-3): Thomas Solvoll - Stian Lind Halvorsen, Bjørn Stephansen, Vidar Evensen, Lars Granaas - Hans Erik Ødegaard, Stefan Gislason, David Hanssen - Lasse Olsen, Jostein Flo, Thomas Sørum.

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