BORÅS, SWEDEN - Hammarby traveled to the defending champs on Monday night and put a serious dent in their title ambitions, handling Elfsborg their first home loss of the season as they won 2-1.

Charlie Davies put in an impressive 66 minutes as he made the most of a Paulinho Guara suspension to start up top. The young American was close to winning a penalty and had two other close chances in what was a thrilling attacking affair between two teams known for their quick passing games.

With seven games remaining and only two points separating the leagues top six teams, Elfsborg's packed house of enthusiastic fans were expecting a win and they were rewarded with a dream start.

In the third minute, Davies had his first touch of the game and it was a good one as he looked to play a quick one-two with Haris Laitinen, but the winger lost possession. Hammarby's David Johansson won possession, but quickly lost it as he went down from a push from behind by Stefan Ishizaki.

As Johansson made his way directly to the linesman to protest, Allsvenskan assist leader Ishizaki chipped in a cross to Mattias Svensson, who had the easy task of heading the hosts into the lead as Erland Hellström could only slow the ball's path into the net.

Svensson was close to grabbing a second as he volleyed Daniel Alexandersson's left wing cross toward goal, but Hellström succeeded in clawing the effort away from goal. The resulting corner provided another great opportunity, but his free header only meters from goal went into Hellström's grateful hands.

HIF's day took another turn for the worse when Christian Traore limped out with a bandage on his knee and Kléber Sarenpää took his place at central defense.

Elfsborg continued their domination as Ishizaki went close to adding to his assist total when he bent a free kick from inside midfield just past a gaggle of onrushing yellow shirts and just past the goalpost with no Hammarby defenders to be seen.

At this stage, Hammarby had difficulty keeping possession with Davies and forward partner Petter Andersson seeing only glimpses of the ball.

"I think that the first 20 minutes, our forward's were not in the game at all," Hammarby coach Tony Gustavsson said post-match.

Davies went close to winning a penalty in the 21st minute after he played a quick give-and-go with Louay Chanko. The speedy striker reached the ball along with Elfsborg's keeper Johan Wiland and was sent tumbling, but the referee waved play on much to the chagrin of Bajen's traveling supporters and Davies himself.

"I think it was a penalty because the keeper didn't touch the ball," Davies told ASD post-match.

Davies' near breakthrough sparked Hammarby into finally taking the initiative in the game. "After the opening stages we began to find our forwards on spaces near the outside of the midfield and they can play back and make combinations," Gustavsson said at the press conference.

Hammarby upped their pressure and Andersson began to make his mark on the game as he burst past his defender and another penalty appeal dismissed as he was muscled out of bounds by Martin Andersson.

Bajen found their equalizer in spectacular fashion shortly afterwards as Erkan Zengin burst free to cross into the box with Davies wide open on the left. It looked to be a poor choice as the ball fell short of Davies, but Sebastian Eguren received the ball on his chest away from goal and twisted to execute a phenomenal bicycle kick into the net, giving Wiland had no chance.

Eguren had two more chances to equalize in the 39th minute, but his first shot was shanked out for a throw-in and his second from the top of the eighteen sailed over the bar.

Davies had a good chance for himself as Eguren burst through midfield and fed the quick forward to his feet. He took a few quick touches before hitting a rocket that unfortunately ended up right in Wiland's chest.

Davies stayed involved with quick touches and one set up the impressive Erken Zengin, who scuffed his shot right at Wiland.

The hugely entertaining first stanza of end-to-end action came to a close as Bajen had completely taken over a game in which they initially had their backs against the wall.

Hammarby promptly started the second half just as the first had ended, and their first chance came after Davies won a ball in midfield to Zengin, who led another rush up field that unfortunately ended the same as many of his previous runs with him shooting over the goal as teammates in better positions waited for a pass that never came.

Davies was close to tallying in the 50th minute as he and Andersson showed off their speed on an attack downfield, as the American received the ball near the penalty box, and after delaying with a fake he wormed his way past his marker, got off a shot across the grain that rolled just feet wide of goal with Wiland sprawling.

The Yank was happy with the pairing between him and Andersson. "I think we made a good combination up top and we are much quicker than the other defenders," Davies told ASD post-game. "I think it worked out pretty well. With the long balls, it is kind of tough as we are both pretty small, so we need to battle. But overall I think it was pretty good."

The hosts struggled to keep up and were being limited to long range attempts as Dani Advic went closest with a powerful shot from distance that ended up comfortably in Hellström's hands.

In the 57th minute, Chanko spotted Davies calling for the ball and sent a lofting ball over the Elfsborg backline that the yellow-shoed striker just missed controlling with his marker left in the dust.

Ishizaki continued to be one of the rare threats for the hosts and he had a powerful free kick that he managed to bent over the wall from 25 yards out, but Hellström was able to parry the ball away with a gang of yellow-clad players rushing on.

Elfsborg looked to make a change in the 62nd minute as they took off former Portsmouth forward James Keene, who had had a rather quite night, and inserted speedy Fredrik Berglund up top.

Davies was the next victim to be taken out in search of fresh legs, as Sweden Under-21 player Sebastian Castro-Tello entered for the American. While coach Gustavsson subbed the #10 shirt out, he felt that move was more of a reward for Castro-Tello than a move to remove the effective Yank.

"Sebastian had a great U-21 game as well as his training, and when you have that kind of quality on the bench then you want to rotate your players to get in energy and quality into the team," Gustavsson said later. "So the substitution was more to get in Sebastian than to take out Charlie."

Davies was also pleased with his condition given the frantic pace of the match. "Physically, I feel fine," Davies told ASD. "I training I have been doing really well and I am trying to bring that to the game, but I haven't really gotten that much time."

Castro-Tello proved the wisdom of the move as his run through midfield moments later gave Bajen the lead. The midfielder ran with the ball toward a backing Elfsborg's defense and cleverly lobbed the ball over the backline to Andersson, who chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper only to be run over. Goal scorer Eguren calmly stepped up to notch his second of the night and silence the home crowd.

Bajen refused to sit on their lead and went inches from cushioning their lead when Chanko weaved his way through midfield and fired a placed shot that left Wiland chanceless, but rebounded off the left post and back across the goal line.

Elfsborg frantically continued their search for an equalizer, and while Ishizaki, Emir Bajrami and Anders Svensson went close, Hammarby held out for the victory.

"It was probably the best game we have played this season," said Gustavsson. "It was against a team that hasn't lost yet at home, so we were facing one of the toughest challenges of the season. We had a nightmare start, but I think we were clearly the better team for the final 70 minutes. We also show great mental strength the way we battled out of the tough start."

Davies was also happy with Bajen's performance. "I think it was a game that we dominated mostly in possession," he said. "As soon as we scored the game changed and we held the game."

Hammarby's victory brings them up to seventh place, though amazingly only four points behind league leaders Djurgårdens with six games to play.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Sebastian Eguren
#2 Erkan Zengin
#3 Stefan Ishizaki

Scoring
IFE - Mattias Svensson (Stefan Ishizaki) 3'
HIF - Sebastian Eguren (Erkan Zengin) 27'
HIF - Sebastian Eguren (PK) 72'

Line-ups
IFE - Johan Wiland; Johan Karlsson, Martin Andersson, Fredrik Björck, Daniel Mobaeck, Daniel Alexandersson (Emir Bajrami 62'), Anders Svensson, Dani Avdic, Stefan Ishizaki, James Keene (Fredrik Berglund 62'), Mattias Svensson

HIF - Erland Hellström; David Johansson, Christian Traore (Kléber Sarenpää 20'), Suleyman Sleyman, Jose Monteiro, Haris Laitinen, Louay Chanko, Sebastian Eguren, Erkan Zengin (Joakim Jensen 86'), Petter Andersson, Charlie Davies (Sebastian Castro-Tello 66')