Silkeborg

Ground: JYSK park

Visits: 1

Date: 6th August 2021

Match: Silkeborg - Viborg 4-1 (Superligaen)

Attendance: 3 708

When the 2021/22 season started in Denmark I was missing three grounds (Silkeborg, Jammerbugt and Vendsyssel). I eagerly awaited the fixtures to be released and couldn´t believe my luck when I noticed those three clubs would play at home on consecutive days. In the top four divisions Jammerbugt and Vendsyssel are the grounds furthest away from where I live and I was of course pleased it was possible to tick them off the same weekend. First up was JYSK park in Silkeborg though and shortly before 10 am on Friday morning I set off from Kristianstad. As predicted it was heavy traffic in Denmark (it was even worse in the other direction though) and it took me just over five hours to reach my hotel in Aarhus. Once at my hotel I watched Sweden lose the women´s Olympic final before leaving for nearby Silkeborg. In 2011 I attended Silkeborg v Brøndby at Silkeborg Stadion but since then Silkeborg IF have moved to a new ground and Silkeborg Stadion has been demolished. JYSK park was opened in 2017 and has a capacity of around 10,000. The new ground is next to the motorway making it very easy if you are coming by car. I had no problems finding a spot in the car park and the weather was by now really nice.

In Superligaen you have to show your Corona passport (and ID) to enter the ground but grounds are otherwise fully open. It felt both strange and nice to once again sit shoulder to shoulder with a stranger inside a football ground. My seat was in the upper tier of the north stand and apart from being opposite the sun I had a great view of the action. The visitors from Viborg brought a decent number of away fans. Standing/sitting to my left they gave their team an excellent vocal support throughout the match. This is one of their nearest away games but still nice to hear a vocal away end. In the first half both teams hit the underside of the crossbar and Viborg had a goal ruled out by VAR. Viborg were the better team in the first half but it was 1-0 for Silkeborg at half-time. In the second half Silkeborg dominated and it was suddenly 3-0. The game ended 4-1 and after four rounds in Superligaen Silkeborg is still unbeaten. A nice evening and a great game for me as I re-completed the top division in Denmark.