AALBORG, Denmark - An injured Robbie Russell stayed behind as his Viborg FF teammates lost 3-2 against Danny Califf and Aalborg BK in front of 7,001 fans at Aalborg Stadion on Sunday afternoon.

It was a feast of chances from the beginning; the first chance fell to Jeppe Curth after only three minutes when Martin Pedersen sent in a near perfect cross but keeper Johan Alvbåge went down well to save.

Only a minute later, Rade Prica raided up the middle and fired from 20 yards, but his attempt went well over.

Another two minutes passed before Curth moved inside the penalty area and got himself closed in. He managed to pass it back to Pedersen who shot from the left side of the area but the ball sailed just wide of the rigt post.

Viborg wanted a part of the action too and after eight minutes. a clearance after a corner fell to Simon Nagel who volleyed from outside the area but AaB keeper Karim Zaza saved.

Nagel came close again five minutes later when he found himself alone with Zaza. He moved around the keeper but could not get enough power on his attempt and Califf cleared it.

The shooting took a break but after 26 minutes, a free kick from Pedersen came off Viborg left back George Popkhadze and fell to Siyabonga Nomvethe who fired from close range to bring the home side up 1-0.

Five minutes later, AaB came close again when a long diagonal pass from Michael Jacobsen sent Curth through on goal but his shot ended up in the side netting.

After 34 minutes, AaB was awarded a free kick when Rade Prica was brought down just outside the penalty box. Pedersen fired into the wall but referee Michael Johansen called it back and showed Steffen Højer the yellow card for moving too early leaving Jacobsen to send the second shot just over the bar.

The final chance of the half came two minutes before the whistle when a well-played combination ended up at the feet of Srdjan Radonjic in front of goal but Zaza made the save.

Aalborg chased their second goal from the beginning of the second half. Thomas Augustinussen sent off the first warning with a 20-yard shot in the first minute of the half but Alvbåge made an easy save.

Only a minute later, however, Pedersen sent in a free kick from the right. Under pressure from Califf, Avbåge punched the ball in front of his own goal where Curth met it with a diving header and made it 2-0.

"I try to get my head on everything, and if not, then I try and get in the way of people so that somebody else can get on the end of it," Califf told American Soccer Daily after the game.

"I was more just trying to back up into the goalkeeper and give him a hard time because I heard him coming for it. we both kind of collided and it fell right to Jeppe."

Eight minutes into the half, AaB looked on the way to a major victory when Nomvethe sent a pass into the area for Kasper Risgaard who beat Lasse Kryger to the ball and made it 3-0.

Viborg kept fighting for it and in the 64th minute, Thomas Frandsen tried his luck from outside the box but Zaza made the save.

Seven minutes later, Frandsen tried again from 20 yards but this time, his shot rattled the right post.

A 73nd minute corner for AaB almost resulted in a fourth goal when it was cleared to Andreas Johansson who fired the volley from outside the area but Alvbåge diverted it over the bar.

Only a minute later, however, an otherwise secure-looking lead started to crumble when Jacobsen tackled Kryger in the box.

The linesman signalled a corner but Johansen pointed to the spot. Zaza went the right way but could not prevent Luiz Carlos' penalty kick from going in.

"I thought they just ran into each other and he fell down," Califf told ASD.

"I thought the linesman pointed to a corner kick and the referee the pointed to the spot, and I said 'Can you at least go talk to the linesman?' because I thought for sure it was a corner kick."

Christian Muomaife replaced Nagel in the 59th minute and with nine minutes to go, Muomaife made his mark on the game when he made a run behind Califf, received the ball from Jacob Olesen and sent it past Zaza into the net.

Inspired in particular by Muomaife, Viborg kept up the pressure looking for the equalizer but the 3-2 score held until the final whistle.

"I think it's really good," a pleased Califf added.

"Offensively we feel great and I think that we're playing really good football but we seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot game in and game out. It seems to be against the teams that are lower than us in the table and that's a worrisome sign but we've got confidence so that's good."

Currently in third place, AaB have now won five straight league games and including UEFA and Danish Cup action their non-losing streak stands at eight games, their last loss coming back in mid August.

The next challenge for AaB is Thursday when they take a 2-2 away result against Sampdoria into the second leg of the UEFA Cup's first round.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Andreas Johansson
#2 Siyabonga Nomvethe
#3 Christian Muomaife

Scoring
AAB - Siyabonga Nomvethe 5 27'
AAB - Jeppe Curth 3 48'
AAB - Kasper Risgaard 1 (Siyabonga Nomvethe) 54'
VFF - Luiz Carlos 1 (PK) 75'
VFF - Christian Muomaife 3 (Jacob Olesen) 82'

Lineups

AAB - Karim Zaza, Michael Jacobsen, Martin Pedersen, Danny Califf, Andreas Johansson, Thomas Augustinussen (Steve Olfers 67'), Rade Prica, Jeppe Curth, Siyabonga Nomvethe (Mattias Lindström 72'), Allan Olesen, Kasper Risgaard

VFF - John Alvbåge, Thomas Tengstedt, Robert Åhman-Persson, Simon Nagel (Christian Muomaife 59'), Lasse Kryger, Petter Furuseth, Srdjan Radonjic (Luiz Carlos 62'), Thomas Frandsen, Steffen Højer (Jacob Olesen 70'), George Popkhadze, Asbjørn Sennels