READING FC defender Axel Andresson has become a title-winner in Norway.
The 20-year-old Academy graduate helped loan club Viking FK win the 1.Divisjon last weekend – the country’s second-tier.
It meant Viking were promoted back to the Norwegian top-flight at the first attempt.
Viking knew victory in their final league fixture would send them up, and they delivered with a 3-1 home win against Kongsvinger in front of 16,000 supporters at the SR-Bank Arena.
Iceland Under 21 international Andresson played a key role in Viking’s rise to the top.
Champions 💙 thank you Viking Stavanger 💙
— Axel Óskar Andrésson (@axelandresson) November 11, 2018
He was left on the bench for his first match, a 3-0 loss to Sandnes Ulf that pushed Viking out of the automatic promotion places.
He made his debut in the next fixture – a 3-0 win against Levanger – then in the next he netted a late winner at Notodden.
Viking kept stringing the wins together to leave them top going into last weekend’s final round of games, with Mjondalen and Aalesund also in with a chance of going up automatically.
They led Kongsvinger through a Johnny Furdal goal but were pegged back by a Shuaibu Ibrahim equaliser.
But their opponents were reduced to 10 men and further goals from Tommy Hoiland and Zymer Bytyqi secured a seventh win in nine games and automatic promotion with it.
Results - 3-1 to Viking - congratulations to all the players, the coach and staff 😘 Heja Viking @axelandresson pic.twitter.com/QZBG9KGcFO
— Lára Helgadóttir (@laraberglind) November 11, 2018
Meanwhile, Josh Barrett started his loan spell with Aldershot Town with a 1-1 home draw against Bradford City in the FA Cup first round on Saturday.
The move came shortly after Barrett had been named October’s Premier League 2 Player of the Month after scoring four goals in four games for Scott Marshall’s Under 23s.
Barrett has joined Shots on a month’s loan and started against Bradford before being substituted on 58 minutes.
Fellow Royals Academy player Gabriel Osho played the full 90 minutes for National League Shots who now face a cup replay on Tuesday, November 20.
Osho has been a regular in Gary Waddock’s Shots side, with his loan due to expire on January 2.
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