LJUNGSKILE, SWEDEN - Charlie Davies was the catalyst for a lucky winner as visiting Hammarby battled for a hard fought 1-0 victory over Ljungskile SK on Monday night.

It remains to be seen whether Davies will officially be credited with the winning goal from the night, but he was certainly the cause as his challenge led to the confusion that leading to the only goal of the night.

Of Ljungskile's newly signed American duo of Colin Burns and Etchu Tabe, it was the latter that made his professional debut on the night.  

Davies worked an impressive 84 minutes, while Tabe came on in the 82nd minute. Burns was relegated to a back-up role for the opener.

Monday's game marked a memorable return to the top flight for Ljungskile, who were promoted after a Cinderella season last year. The game kicked off in the Starke Arvid Arena, which more closely resembles a high school football stadium than an Allsvenskan arena.

Ljungskile were clearly inspired to play in their first top flight game in over 10 years, and got the first clear cut chances of the game. Richard Jansson first snapped a shot wide following a free kick, and then cult hero Jörgen Wålemark just failed to control a ball over the top when he would have found himself one-on-one with the keeper in the opening minutes.

Davies nearly got behind the defense in the ninth minute after Petter Andersson picked off a ball in midfield, but Ljungskile's David Leinar managed to clear the danger.

Leinar then made an impression at the other end when he missed a great chance after being picked out by a perfectly swerved Michal Kubala corner kick.

Davies won a foul in the 15th after being shoved off the ball, but the Louay Chanko's free kick was too low.

As play got sloppier, Erkan Zengin - sporting neon pink tape on his left knee - gave up a suspect free kick from 25 yards out after being dispossessed in midfield. Kubala struck a hard free kick that Shaaban could only punch away for a corner, which Ljungskile nearly capitalized on when Martin Smedberg side-footed the corner just over the net as the hosts pressed for an opener.

The USMNT forward made a penalty appeal after he accelerated past his marker on the edge of the area in the 22nd minute, but his protests went unanswered by the referee. As play moved back upfield, a scuffle broke out and Ljungskile's Edwin Phiri collapsed in a heap after Zengin appeared to make limited contact with his face. As the ruckus calmed down, Phiri and Zengin were rewarded for their behavior with yellow cards.

The near penalty spurned on Davies and he won a dangerous set piece after racing onto a through ball down the left flank, though Chanko's restart was again low and easily cleared.

Ljungskile's Kubala then saw yellow after the Slovakian midfielder dished out some revenge to Zengin, when he left the winger in a heap after 29 minutes.

Both teams visibly struggled to maintain any consistent possession, and were certainly not aided by the soggy pitch, which had suffered through heavy snow in the days leading up to the game.

Bajen's Claudio Dadomo won a free kick after a bullish run down the left, which resulted in Bajen's best chance of the half. However, left back Kleber Saarepnää blasted over from the edge of the six-yard box after Paulinho had done well to flick on a header.

As the opening stanza came to a close, LSK threatened with back-to-back corner kicks from the dangerous right foot of Kabala. Davies did his part to ease the Ljungskile pressure when he raced the ball out of his own area to lead a counter as the whistle blew.

Dadomo went close to opening the scoring through a Davies layoff in the 49th minute, but the Uruguayan's shot deflected just over the bar to the relief of the home fans.

Hammarby began exerting more control on the game and one sequence led to a nice cross from Davies that nearly found a lurking Paulinho.

Ljungskile made the first change of the game when Niklas Löfgren was sent on for a subdued Andreas Kristofferson.

As a think fog ascended onto the field, Davies set up an onrushing Andersson, who side-footed high and wide as chances for both teams began to dry up. Each looked to the bench as Ljungskile took off Kubala and sent on Robert Johansson, while Bajen brought on fresh wide midfielders in Sebastian Castro-Tello and Haris Laitinen in the 72nd minute.

Directly thereafter, Hammarby's marquee offseason signing, Rami Shaaban, lived up to his billing when he made an excellent sliding stop on Smedberg in the 73rd minute.

Hammarby punished Ljungskile directly afterwards when Louay Chanko sent an innocuous long ball from the back toward the LSK area, and Davies challenged both keeper Michal Slawuta and Leinar. The ball took at least one deflection as the players converged and Davies wheeled away to celebrate as the ball looped into the net to the delight of Bajen's travelling support.

While the goal was officially credited as an own goal, Davies will certainly be trying to claim it.

"I saw Lolo make a lob into the box, and no one was there so I went to challenge it," Davies told American Soccer Daily postgame. "The keeper punched it, and it deflected off me. It was a good ball, and in conditions like this it is really tough for the keeper to get a grip on the ball."

HIF went on search for the killer goal and Davies nearly wiggled through in the 80th minute after some cute touches, but was crowded off the ball before he could release his shot.

In the 82nd minute, Tabe made his professional debut as Ljungskile moved to an aggressive three-striker formation. The Allsvenskan represented a large step up from what he is used to from college ball in the states, said Tabe.

"The level is much higher here than college ball in the US. It was good for me to get in a few minutes and I thought I did well," Tabe told American Soccer Daily postgame. 

Davies was relieved of his duties in the 85th minute when he made way for new signing Freddy Söderberg and received a warm reception for his nights work.

Bajen's impressive Andersson went close to putting the nail in the coffin with minutes remaining when his rasping drive was picked from the corner by a sprawling Slawuta.

LSK refused to give up and Tabe muscled down the left flank past his marker and nearly broke into the box alone, but David Johansson made up the lost ground and won a free kick off the tall Yank.

There would be more controversy in the 91st minute when Wålemark just missed getting his foot on a free kick and scythed down Shaaban, but when calm was restored, Bajen emerged as the narrow victors.

While Ljungskile were viewed as the heavy underdogs, Hammarby were very pleased just to pick up three points.

"We knew were coming up against a physical team trying to prove themselves," Davies stated. "We just had to want it more and battle physically and we did that. Coming away with three points here in this type of condition was huge, especially considering our away form last year when we won only two games."

"It shows what we can do, and it is only the beginning."

After struggling through last season, Davies feels he has made large strides, which were on display tonight. "I thought I did really well, it was definitely a big improvement from last year," he said. "It was a more mature Charlie Davies from last year."

Despite the loss Ljungskile's head coach remained positive. "I am incredibly proud of the guys tonight despite the loss, but we need to take our chances that we create from set pieces and corners," said head coach David Wilson postgame. "We just ended up losing on a crap goal. Our goalkeeper needs to leave that for our defense to clean up."

Next Monday, Hammarby will host newly promoted GIF Sundsvall, while Ljungskile SK travel to Kalmar FF.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Petter Andersson
#2 Richard Jansson
#3 Charlie Davies

Scoring
HIF - Own Goal (David Leinar) 75'

Line-ups
LSK - Michal Slawuta; Cedomir Zarkovic (Etchu Tabe 82), David Leinar, Richard Jansson, Edwin Phiri, Michael Smedberg, Michal Kubala (Robert Johansson 66), Anders Augustsson, Aleksandar Kitic, Andreas Kristoffersson (Niklas Löfgren 60), Jörgen Wålemark

HIF - Rami Shaaban; David Johansson, Suleyman Sleyman, Christian Traoré, Kleber Saarenpää, Erkan Zengin (Sebastian Castro-Tello 72), Louay Chanko, Petter Andersson, Claudio Dadomo (Haris Laitinen 72), Charlie Davies (Fredy Söderberg 86), Paulinho