The second game of the weekend was at the Nolia Air Dome in Pitea. It is about a thirty-minute drive down the coast from Lulea. The main roads are well cleared of snow in the region, but I was glad of the deep-grooved winter tyres once we hit the town.
Pitea didn’t seem to have much going on. We had a brief look at a church and graveyard which we later saw as the picture on a jigsaw puzzle in the local Coop. There was a main street with shops, but a lot were closed as it was Sunday. On the plus side, the temperature didn’t ever fall below -15C, so there was less chance of me being frostbitten again.
The main reason for our visit though was the Nolia Air Dome and the game inside between Pitea and Skelleftea, who are from about an hour further down the road. The Air Dome looks like one of those modern tents that inflate rather than use poles, but I suspect there has to be more to it than that.
It had a concrete base, which was useful for resting up against, but no seating unless you brought your own. As the game progressed, more people wandered in and the attendance probably peaked at around fifty. Not bad for Sunday lunchtime.
Someone mentioned that Pitea were building up their squad for the upcoming season and that they were fielding a few triallists and loanees from other clubs. I’m not really sure whereabouts each side sits in the Swedish football pyramid, but I’d suspect that they are probably around the fourth tier or so.
Pitea scored from their first attack, just twenty-four seconds into the game. They added another midway through the first half with an effort that bounced off both posts and needed the lino’s intervention to confirm that it had gone in.
At that point I thought Pitea might run away with it, but Skelletea immediately pulled one back with a shot from the edge of the box. The visitors then drew level on the stroke of half-time.
It could have gone either way in the second half, with both sides giving their benches a run out. After some sustained pressure, Skelleftea capped their comeback with a deserved winner.
Trail of the Lion King 