Heavy blow for Sirius - AIK helps the rivals

Sirius continues to chase the club's first SC gold in football. But the form fails. In the previous round, a late point loss came at home against Elfsborg and a new potential golden strike would now come at home against AIK.

Sirius got off to the best start when Marcus Lindberg tried to get the ball in from a tight angle near the byline, but AIK goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt managed to parry the attempt.

AIK was also close to taking the lead early on. Johan Hove had a dream position to make it 1-0, but Mohamed Soumah stood in the way and stopped the finish.

The first half was temporarily interrupted when smoke from pyrotechnics in the stands spread over the pitch. The players made their way to the touchline during the stoppage, which lasted about two minutes.

AIK was the first to find the net after the break. Axel Kouamé made it 1-0 with a well-placed long shot.

However, the visitors' lead was short-lived. Just a minute or so later, Joakim Persson struck, for the third time in two games, and ensured that Sirius equalised.

But AIK kept on drumming. Just before the break, Taha Ayari was brought down in the penalty area by Soumah and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, stirring up huge anger among the Sirius players. From eleven meters, however, Hove made no mistake and the Norwegian easily scored his ninth goal of the season.

After the break, Sirius pressed hard against an AIK who defended tooth and nail. Joakim Persson came closest with just over 20 minutes left, but his header hit the post. No more goals were to come and it was dejected Sirius players who sat down on the grass after the final whistle.

Although there may not be loud cheers for the victory, in the black and yellow parts of Stockholm, the mood is probably all the happier in other parts of the capital city. Djurgården and Hammarby now get a last golden opportunity to get seriously involved in the gold battle before the final rounds of the Allsvenskan.

Sirius has 55 points, with five games left to play. Djurgården has 47 and Hammarby 46, but both have played one less game.