AALBORG, DENMARK - Aalborg BK recorded their first win of the season, beating Aarhus GF 2-0 in front of 7,957 spectators at Aalborg Stadion on Sunday evening.

Danny Califf returned for the hosts after a two-game suspension, meaning that coach Erik Hamrén could field his preferred back line with the American and Michael Jacobsen in central defense, and Allan Olesen and Martin Pedersen at right and left back, respectively.

Aarhus coach Ove Pedersen once again chose to field Alex Valencia at right midfield and Mike Tullberg up front with captain Peter Graulund, leaving Jeremiah White - who is still nursing a minor injury - to take a seat on the bench. He replaced Tullberg in the 62nd minute.

"I'll be in the starting lineup soon," he told American Soccer Daily. "I'd say I'm at 90%, so I'm not worried about it. It's just
getting back."

Both teams needed the points having, failed to live up to expectations early in the season. The two sides were placed at either side of the relegation line, Aarhus with one point and Aalborg with two.

The sides came out fast from the beginning, each trying to gain control of the game and neither succeeding. It resulted in a lot of high-paced back and forth play, but little in the way of chances.

Cheers erupted from the home fans after eight minutes when a free kick from Pedersen took a deflection in defense and sent Aarhus keeper Steffen Rasmussen the wrong way, leaving Jeppe Curth with an easy opportunity for the opening goal. A dubious offside call, however, kept the scoreline at zeroes.

Another eight minutes passed before Graulund intercepted the ball from Kasper Risgaard and moved toward the Aalborg defense. He laid it off to Lars Pleidrup, who sent his shot over the bar.

The home side came close again after 18 minutes when Curth sent in a long cross for Siyabonga Nomvethe. who sent his volley well wide.

He had another chance two minutes later as a throw-in from Olesen was headed on by Rade Prica, but this time, Nomvethe sent his shot just over the bar.

The game lost pace until the 33rd minute when everything started to happen extremely fast. First, Tullberg took down an extremely well-played pass from defense and found himself wide open in front of goal, but fired over.

The next minute, Valencia moved inside the box and fired off a shot which was blocked in defense. The rebound fell to a wide open Tullberg, but this time Jacobsen stood in the way on the line.

After those two chances, it seemed almost cruel when Nomvethe moved inside the penalty area from the right and had his shot blocked. The rebound fell to Swedish midfielder Andreas Johansson, who won the tackle with Rasmussen and watched the ball float into the goal for the opener.

"I don't understand," said a disappointed White. "We had two huge opportunities to score, and then he comes down and scores right away. They're a good team."

The hosts had a chance to double their lead just eight minutes later when a good combination between Nomvethe and Prica sent the former through, but the shot went just wide.

Aarhus could have gone level in the closing minutes of the half as a free kick from Valencia found Kari Árnason's head, but again, the attempt went just wide of the goal.

The visitors came out to the second half looking for the equalizer, and 10 minutes in, they received another golden opportunity. Michael Lumb sent in a cross, and when Jacobsen completely missed the clearing header, Graulund had a free shot of goal - but one more time, the ball went wide.

Five minutes later, a long diagonal pass from Ulrik Lindkvist found Graulund in the area, but a good save from Martin S. Jensen kept the hosts ahead.

White replaced Tullberg after 61 minutes, and only one minute later, he took a chance after a weak clearance from Califf, but his shot went over the bar.

Four minutes later, Aarhus came close again when Graulund outran Califf to take a shot, but Jensen just managed to get his fingers on it to divert for a corner.

Aalborg finally woke up again and the next minute they had another chance to double. Nomvethe laid it off to an open Prica who moved inside the box. Unfortunately, he stumbled and lost a step forcing him to cross it back to Nomvethe whose header went well wide.

With 20 minutes to go, Johansson tackled his way through the visiting defense for another one-on-one opportunity, but his lob could not beat both Rasmussen and the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Nomvethe sent in a corner from the left. Prica put his head to it, but it was blocked in defense. The rebound fell to Johansson who tapped it back to Prica, and this time the Swede slammed it past Rasmussen into goal.

"It was one of those games where it was your turn, my turn with big chances," Califf told American Soccer Daily. "They created quite a few, much more than I would like as a defender, but we created a ton of big chances as well."

Down by two, AGF tried to come forward again, yet failed to create any major chances. White came close in the 85th minute with a free kick from 25 yards, but Jensen saved it to record his first shutout in seven appearances for Aalborg.

With AGF applying the pressure, AaB were bound to get their chances on the counterattack and Price almost scored his second when he broke through the defense three minutes before time. The right post was in the way of his finish, however, and the 2-0 score held.

"It felt great," a relieved Califf admitted. "It's a monkey off our back and we got a clean sheet. Things were a little squirrely for most of the second half, but we locked it down and were fortunate to keep the clean sheet and get a win."

Aalborg now have four points in eighth place, while Aarhus remain in 11th with just one.

"We have new players, but also it's about finding the right combination, putting the right player in the right place," White said, explaining his side's disappointing beginning to life in the SAS Liga. "Right now, we have to work on that."

Scoring
AAB - Andreas Johansson 1 35'
AAB - Rade Prica 2 (Andreas Johansson) 74'

Line-ups
AAB - Martin S. Jensen; Michael Jacobsen, Martin Pedersen, Danny Califf, Andreas Johansson (Patrick Kristensen 88'), Allan Olesen, Kasper Risgaard, Jeppe Curth, Rade Prica, José Mota (Thomas Enevoldsen 68'), Siyabonga Nomvethe (Mattias Lindström 82')

AGF - Steffen Rasmussen; Kim Madsen, Ole Budtz, Ulrik Lindkvist, Lars Pleidrup (Razak Salifu 82'), Kari Árnason, Jerry Lucena, Michael Lumb, Alex Valencia (Anders Kure 82'), Peter Graulund, Mike Tullberg (Jeremiah White 62')