Axel Taonsa’s Double Firings Vault Västerås SK FK Past Sundsvall, Tighten Grip on Superettan’s Top Three
VÄSTERÅS, Sweden — With the evening chill rolling off Lake Mälaren, Västerås SK FK produced another stirring comeback at Hitachi Energy Arena, rallying past GIF Sundsvall 2-1 and consolidating their place among Superettan’s frontrunners. In front of a raucous home crowd, Axel Taonsa delivered a brace in the space of 14 second-half minutes, transforming nervous energy into collective jubilation and leaving Västerås just five points off the summit with four rounds to play.
The match unfolded as a test of resilience for Västerås, a side riding a wave of autumn momentum yet forced to dig deep after Marcelo Palomino’s first-half opener for Sundsvall. Palomino, a creative spark who has often been Sundsvall’s answer in tough moments, staked the visitors to a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute with a coolly dispatched finish. It was a goal fashioned from Sundsvall’s patient buildup, a reminder of their capacity to trouble the league’s best even amid inconsistent recent form.
Västerås responded, as they have so often this fall. The interval brought urgency, and Taonsa answered the call. His equalizer in the 56th minute was a work of opportunism—meeting a loose ball in the box and snapping a left-footed drive past the stranded Sundsvall keeper. Hitachi Energy Arena erupted; the home side’s belief was restored in an instant.
Sundsvall, fighting to arrest a slide that has derailed their playoff ambitions, sought to regroup. But Västerås kept the foot to the floor, pressing for a winner that would keep their promotion dreams vivid. Their breakthrough arrived in the 70th minute—again through Taonsa, who ghosted between defenders on a curling cross and guided his header with the composure of a striker in rare form. Two goals in 14 minutes, each a testament to instinct and predatory anticipation.
For Sundsvall, this defeat deepens a troubling pattern. After back-to-back wins late last month, they have dropped two straight and now find themselves seventh, their playoff hopes fading against a backdrop of defensive lapses and missed chances. Palomino’s first-half goal was his second in as many matches—a lone bright spot amid the gathering gloom—but it was not enough to withstand Västerås’s second-half surge.
The teams’ head-to-head encounters in recent years have rarely been so charged with meaning. Västerås, now on 53 points from 26 games (16 wins, 5 draws, 5 losses), continue to assert themselves as one of Superettan’s pace-setters. Their form has been electric: since mid-September, they have rattled off four wins in five, including a ruthless 6-1 thrashing of Östersunds FK and critical victories over Sandviken, Umeå, and Oddevold. Taonsa, whose goal tally now places him among the division’s elite, has emerged as the team’s talisman when margins are thinnest.
Contrast that to Sundsvall’s recent slide: one win in five, punctuated by losses against Trelleborg, Falkenbergs, and now Västerås. Defensive frailty, once masked by Palomino’s and Sandberg’s flashes of inspiration, has become a worrying theme.
No red cards marred the contest, but the undertone was one of simmering tension: every tackle weighted with the season’s stakes, every missed chance magnified by the unforgiving mathematics of the table. Västerås played with the discipline and hunger befitting their new status; Sundsvall, for all their technical fluency, struggled to match the hosts’ intensity when it mattered most.
With four weekends left, Västerås’s ambitions sharpen. Still three points off second, they hold the advantage of form and a goal-scoring leader in Taonsa whose timing could not be more decisive. Their next month will test mettle against fellow top-four opposition and determine whether this surge can become the club’s first top-flight promotion in a generation.
Sundsvall, meanwhile, must reckon with both their position and their prospects. Seventh in the table, ten points shy of the playoff line, their season teeters between upper-midtable safety and the possibility of a late charge—one that will require not just Palomino's creative brilliance but collective defensive resolve.
As fans drifted into the brisk Västerås night, one story rang clear: this Superettan campaign will reward the bold. With Taonsa’s instinct and Västerås’s unrelenting drive, the chase for promotion is alive—and the drama only intensifies from here.