The match started with FC Helsingør having a slight edge, as they clearly felt more at home on the flat artificial pitch than the Horsens players. After 7 minutes, FCH and Nicolas Mortensen had the first big chance, but Mortensen’s shot went straight at Horsens goalkeeper Joronen, and although the goalkeeper parried the rebound out into the box, Mortensen could not put it away on the second attempt either. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be a prophetic image of how the match would unfold.
Already the minute after, it was Douglas who was sent off on a counterattack. A Horsens player caught up with the striker and tackled the Brazilian hard from behind. Douglas went rolling in the grass in pain, but the referee’s whistle remained silent. It looked like a free kick.
Horsens worked their way more into the game, without creating any major chances, while FCH played a little more cautiously. 12 minutes had been played when the next FCH chance came. TK dribbled in from the flank. He got all the way through the Horsens defense on the edge of the box and shot hard and low, but the attempt went just past the post. A superb move from the returning dribbler.
After 19 minutes, Horsens had won a corner that immediately became dangerous, as set pieces from the central Jutlanders tend to do. After a bit of tussling, the ball fell to a Horsens player, but the finish went straight into the feet of Aris Vaporakis, who came down on the ball and ended the attack. Horsens’ first big chance.
The next one followed already three minutes later. Horsens moved the ball up the left side, and a cross was sent into the FCH box at head height, sailing in between friends and foes, without anyone being able to get to it. But just centimeters away from Horsens scoring.
There was pressure on FCH in this phase. Shortly after, Horsens had another set piece and, as usual, sent all their big players forward. After a bit of scrambling, the ball dropped at the feet of Kjartan Finnbogasson, but he shot past the post when trying to place it on the left side of the goal.
After about half an hour, Helsingør came through the middle with a well-composed series of passes. Mikkel Basse shot hard, but was blocked, and Patrick shot on the rebound, but both attempts were blocked by a hard-working and solid Horsens defense.
Adnan Mohammad had been given the starting spot at left wing-back, and after just 40 minutes he got past his marker and crossed the ball into the box to a free Mikkel Basse, who unfortunately had his back to goal. Basse therefore could not quite turn all the way around, and the ball went over the junction of the posts and crossbar on what was otherwise a fine shot.
In stoppage time of the first half, Nicolas Mortensen was kicked above the ankle as he carried the ball forward to the edge of the Horsens box, but the referee again did not judge the incident to be a free kick.
So the teams went into halftime with the score 0-0, and FC Helsingør could be satisfied with both keeping a clean sheet and having had much of the initiative in play. But the Helsingør side had not made use of its chances, and that would come back to haunt them in the second half.
Eight minutes into the second half, Horsens got a throw-in in FCH’s half. The ball was hurled all the way into the FCH box, and Aris Vaporakis came under heavy pressure at the top of the crowd of players and punched it away, but the ball did not get out of the box. Instead it landed at the feet of Oliver Drost, who struck hard toward the far corner. Patrick Olsen desperately threw himself at the shot, but could not clear it in time, and could only slide into the goal with the ball. It had gone in anyway, however, and thus it was not an own goal. Cold comfort.
1-0 Horsens.
The goal sparked the Helsingør players up a bit, and the chase for an equalizer opened up the game at both ends. After a little over an hour, Adnan played his way through on the right side, cut inside and shot at goal. The shot was blocked, but TK fought his way through two men and won the ball in the box. He finished decisively, but again the shot was blocked. The ball fell to Adnan, who cleverly flicked it on to Douglas, but the Brazilian completely miscued his finish, sending it harmlessly wide.
The minute after, AC Horsens got through on FCH’s right side, and a high cross found Simon Okusun, who headed toward the far corner, but Daniel got back heroically and headed it away, with the ball hitting both the crossbar and the line before going back into play. A huge chance for Horsens.
Very shortly after, it was Helsingør who went forward down the wing. Adnan delivered a sharp cross and found Martin Fisch, who had been substituted on in place of a shoulder-injured Pascal Gregor, but Joronen made a fine save on Fisch’s header, which the center-back could not direct sufficiently downward.
The match was lively in this phase, and the attacks went back and forth from box to box.
65 minutes played: FCH broke on a counterattack when a goal kick from Joronen went straight out to FCH’s midfield. Anders Holst, who had just come on, finished with a good strike, but Joronen came all the way out in full stretch and tipped the shot around the post. FCH’s best attempt in the second half.
This was followed by a period in which Horsens were quite happy to sit deep and shut down FC Helsingør’s players when they approached the ACH box. Horsens were most dangerous from set pieces, and had the makings of a couple of chances, including one for Simon Okosun, who forced Aris Vaporakis into a good save on a shot from a tight angle.
After 75 minutes, new signing Jonas Borring broke free on FCH’s right flank and shot low across goal, but a well-playing Daniel Jørgensen once again got the shot away, almost on the line. But unfortunately it was an omen of what was to come some seven minutes later, when Peter Nymann received a fine pass out on the wing. The full-back cut inside and shot hard, and this time no FCH player got in to save the shot, which flew into the far corner.
2-0 AC Horsens
The goal did not deflate the Helsingør players, who continued to fight tooth and nail to create chances, but Horsens sensibly shut things down and let time run out, while FC Helsingør time and again hit the wall in vain, and thus Helsingør had to travel home from the temporary home ground in Farum with a defeat in their luggage.
FC Helsingør: Vaporakis, Gregor, S. Henriksen, Jørgensen, Mohammad, Basse, ”TK” Køhler, P. Olsen, Leiria, Mortensen, Douglas
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
