In 1960 RBK made their debut in the Eliteserie at home with a 4-4 result against Sandefjord BK. Tonight they played their first game against the "heir" Sandefjord Fotball, founded in 1998.
Rosenborg made three changes to the line-up before kick-off: Ståle Stensaas got to play to get in shape before Mikael Dorsin leaves for the World Championship in Germany, while Daniel Braaten and Karim Essediri were put in to add speed to an attack that struggled in the last match, against Stabæk.
The aformentioned changes functoned well, and the home team opened best tonight. However, two other players were the first to show off their skills: goalscorer Steffen Iversen and playmaker Frode Johnsen. The 1-0 goal came after nine minutes when Johnsen from an almost dead angle passed the ball to Iversen who used his forehead to steer the ball into the goal.
Ten minutes later the duo did it again: Johnsen headed a pass from Stensaas down to Iversen who easily put the ball into the net.
RBK continued their good play until half-time, but were not able to get a third goal. However it seemed certain that Rosenborg were on the road to victory.
It did not turn out to be that easy. Rosenborg became way too hospitable in the second half, and invited Sandefjord back into the game. After five minutes Christer Basma tried to pass the ball back to Hirschfeld, but instead he sent it to Samuel Isaksen, who easily dribbled off Lars Hirschfeld and scored.
The people from Vestfold got a morale boost, and produced, with the help of a helpless RBK defense, several chances in a short amount of time. Mikael Andersson got closest to an equalizer after hitting the bar.
Frustration spread in the Rosenborg lair, and the play from the first half was gone. Instead the ball was always shot forward with no obvious addressee.
Fifteen minutes before the end of the game Alexander Tettey came in to stabilize the midfield. The U21 national team player showed himself to be worthy of the trust, and did much more than was demanded of him, when he almost immediately scored his first goal in the Tippeliga: Per Ciljan Skjelbred passed the ball to substitute Øyvind Storflor, who passed it to Tettey who came on a long run. Alex made no mistakes, and scored elegantly by shooting the ball between Espen Bugge Pettersen's legs.
Three important points were secured in the excellent summer weather.
"I think we were good in the first half where we sometimes played brilliantly and deservedly were in the lead. In the second half we let them into the game because of personal mistakes. Such things should not happen, but they sometimes occur. Today we should instead focus on the parts where we play excellent football, and go further from there," Per-Mathias Høgmo concluded.
PS! Braaten had to leave the pitch because of his injury.
Match statistics
ROSENBORG
3-1
Sandefjord
Steffen Iversen 9, 20
Alexander Tettey 78
Samuel Isaksen 50
Sunday the 7 of May 2006 18:00 The Tippeliga, Lerkendal stadium
15 897 attendants
Rosenborg [4-3-3] Lars Hirschfeld - Christer Basma, Bjørn Tore Kvarme, Vidar Riseth, Ståle Stensaas (Mikael Dorsin 84)- Frode Johnsen, Jan Gunnar Solli, Per Ciljan Skjelbred - Karim Essediri (Alexander Tettey 74), Steffen Iversen, Daniel Braaten (Øyvind Storflor 46)
