AMSTERDAM — Ricardo Clark earned Man of the Match honors and Sean Cunningham enjoyed perhaps his finest outing of the season as Stabæk posted their first Tippeligaen win streak since last August with a 2-1 defeat of 10-man hosts Vålerenga on Sunday evening.
The Norwegian honor division resumed after a month-long Euro 2012 break with few make-up games from round nine, and the Blue Ones took advantage of theirs with a pair of second-half strikes after the home side had Andreas Nordvik sent off near the half-hour.
Clark, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the early going to enact a one-game suspension, threatened to score no less than three times after the break. Not long after his set-up pass led to a great save by Vålerenga netminder Lars Hirschfeld, the Canada international robbed the midfielder by turning away his long-range blast in the 72nd minute.
Cunningham, meanwhile, ably handled all of his challenges at the Stabæk back as the league cellar-dwellers climbed to within four points of the safety zone.
