by Chipp Reid

If Malmö FF wins the 2010 Allsvenskan, manager Roland Nilsson will probably have to add a few names to his Christmas card list. The latest league manager to hand Nilsson a gift was GAIS head coach Alexander Axen, who led his team to a 1-0 win over Helsingborg on Oct. 3.
MFF on the same day beat Trelleborg 3-0 in Trelleborg, putting Malmö back in first place. MFF has 58 points while Helsingborg slid back into second place on 55. Still, Nilsson has players say any gold-medal parties are a long way off.
“It isn’t time for us to say we’re going to win the gold,” said midfielder Jiloan Hamad. “There are still a lot of matches left to play. We only have a three-point lead.”
Malmö owes that three-point to GAIS, which scored early then put on a defensive display at Olympia Stadium in Helsingborg. It is third time another team has helped Malmö either pull level or ahead of HIF in the past two months. BK Häcken manager Peter Gerhardsson probably made the Nilsson Christmas card list on July 17 when Häcken knocked off HIF 2-1, a result that allowed Malmö to move into a tie on points with Helsingborg.
Three weeks later, Malmö took over sole possession of first place – briefly – after Djurgården held HIF to a 3-3 draw, a result that probably landed DIF manager Carlos Banda on the Malmö manager’s holiday good cheer list.
Now, with only four matches left to play in the season, Nilsson and his players must find a way to hold the lead. It’s the something the Malmo manager doesn’t need to tell his locker room.
“We really need to concentrate on each match and not look ahead,” said MFF midfielder Jeffrey Aubynn. “We can’t worry about what teams might do, even though we’ve had some help from the rest of the league. We must focus on how we play. As long we do that, we should be fine.”
The Allsvenskan returns to action Oct. 16.

Malmö 3, Trelleborg
TRELLEBORG – Jiloan Hamad and Guillermo Molins each had a goal and assist to lead Malmö to a 3-0 win Oct. 3 over Trelleborg at Vångavallen and back into sole possession of first place. Hamad scored in the 27th minute off a pass from Molins then set up Molins for a goal in the 90th minute. Daniel Larsson scored in the 80th minute. The goal was his ninth of the season. The loss was only the third of the year for TFF at home.

GAIS 1, Helsingborg 0
HELSINGBORG – GAIS opened the door to Malmö to retake first place as it handed Helsingborg 1-0 loss Oct. 2 at Olympia Stadium. Romario Pereira Sipiao scored the lone goal of the match at the 27-minute mark and goalkeeper Dime Jankulovsky made it stand up as he shut down HIF the rest of the way. The goal was the first of the season for Romario while the loss was the first at home this year for Helsingborg.

BK Häcken 2, Örebro 1
GÖTEBORG – Örebro failed to keep pace with the league leaders, dropping a 2-1 decision to Hacken Oct. 3 at Rambergsvallen. Jonas Henricksson and Paulino tallied for Häcken while Patrik Anttonen scored for OSK. Paulino hit the match winner four minutes from time. Örebro fell 13 points behind Malmo.

Elfsborg 4, Åtvidaberg 1
BORÅS –Elfsborg got a brace of goals from Stefan Ishizaki to knock off Åtvidaberg 4-1 Oct. 3 at Borås Arena. Haris Radetinac gave the visitors a 1-0 lead that held until three minutes into the second half when Ishizaki scored his first. The midfielder put Elfsborg in front in the 62nd minute. Johan Larsson made the score 3-1 in the 76th minute and James Keene completed the win with an 84th-minute goal.

Djurgården 2, AIK 1
STOCKHOLM – A pair of goals on either side of half time gave Djurgården a 2-1 win over AIK in a derby match Oct. 2 at Råsunda Stadium. Kenny Pavey put AIK in front after nine minutes when he scored from the penalty spot. Kennedy Igboananike tied the match in the 42nd minute while Sharbel Touma hit game winner three minutes after the interval. Djurgården moved into fifth place with the win. The loss was the third straight AIK, which fell back into the relegation playoff spot.

Halmstad 2, Brommapojkarna 0
HALMSTAD – Joe Sise and Jonas Gudni Saevarsson scored first-half goals to lead Halmstad to a 2-0 win over Brommapojkarna Oct. 3 at Örjans vall. Sise scored two minutes into the match while Saevarsson tallied 35 minutes later. BP sank into last place with the loss.

Kalmar 1, Gefle 1
KALMAR - Daniel Freire Mendes scored in the 76th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw for Kalmar Oct. 3 at Fredriksskans against Gefle. Dragan Kapcevic put Gefle in front on the stroke of half time.

Göteborg 0, Mjallby 0
GÖTEBORG – Mattias Asper notched his league leading 12th shut out of the season as Mjallby played to a scoreless draw Oct. 3 with IFK Göteborg at Gamla Ullevi. Marcus Sandberg picked up his fourth shut out for Göteborg.