As mentioned yesterday, I wasn’t in a very good mental shape due to my mind being preoccupied by the upcoming derby.

Råsunda, where AIK normally plays is also where we’re forced to play our home derby games. Same goes for Djurgården which in effect means that AIK plays 2 extra home games per season. The area around the “National arena” isn’t very pleasant at all and makes Shepherds Bush feel cosy and warm. I really dislike going there for derby games, even after a win you have a long ride home and if unlucky the firms from both clubs has put the old bill on their toes which makes the atmosphere tense and very edgy. All in all it is not a very nice place to go in order to “enjoy” a football match. Not only did I feel sick (coming down with a cold I guess) and had to visit a place I strongly dislike – Hammarby performed the worst second half of the season and just didn’t want to know. For the first 35 minutes Hammarby was by far the better team but judging from AIKs last 10 minutes we would be in for a very rough ride in the second half. After having got the worst possible start in the second half with AIK scoring the equaliser just two minutes after the break it was all downhill from there.

The 1-2 loss means that where out of the title race and the rest of the season will just be play for our honour and a spot in Europe next year. Speaking of Europe, at least we’re still in the UEFA cup! Not that I have much faith in us getting into the group stage of the competition after having seen our display yesterday, but judging from this season we seem to be more “up for it” when play international games.

To make matters worse, “the Unmentionables” (Djurgården, for those of you who are not in the know about the rivalry of the Stockholm football) went top of the league last night too. A sad, sad day!

It’ll probably take a day or two to recover from my disappointment. And god knows I need to recover quickly because on Saturday I’ll spend most of my day at and around Råsunda again. First, the team I coach will take on AIKs 15 year olds and then I’m going to watch Sweden versus Denmark.

KEEP THE FAITH!