Start - Strømsgodset 2-2 (1-1) Kristiansand stadion Att: 5004 1-0 Sven Kloster (pen. 7) 1-1 Thomas Wæhler (45) 2-1 Trond Nordseth (62) 2-2 Marek Lemsalu (84) Yellow card: Frode Fredriksen, Start, Jostein Flo, Marek Lemsalu, Strømsgodset. - An entertaining first play-off game. The home side twice took the lead, but each time the more experienced visitors from the premier division equalized. The second away goal, 6 minutes from time, makes SIF favourites in the return leg in Drammen on Sunday. Strømsgodset - Start 0-1 (0-0), agg. 2-3 Marienlyst stadion Att: 5979 0-1 Terje Leonardsen (90) Yellow card: Erik Hagen, Hans Erik Ødegaard, Osman Nyan, Anders Michelsen, Strømsgodset, Bjørn Stefansen, Start. - For 91 minutes, SIF looked like preserving their premier division status. The home team dominated play, created dozen of chances, which were all missed, but 0-0 was still enough to keep them up. Then 2 minutes into injury time Start scored on only their second chance in the game, and the visitors were up. Hard luck on SIF, but when you fail to put away your chances, you've little to complain about. For Start, this promotion was well deserved, after leading the first division for almost the entire season, only to give away their lead in the last three games. Big hero was goalkeeper Espen Johansen who played the game of his life.