An entertaining training match, which at times was at a fairly high tempo, ended with a slightly too large 4-2 victory for FC Nordsjælland, when FC Helsingør were visiting Farum on Saturday
It was otherwise FC Helsingør who started the match best, with a couple of good chances for the two trialists Tonni Adamsen from Frem, and Mileta Rajkovic from FC Roskilde within the first ten minutes. But FC Nordsjælland settled better into the match as the half went on, and also had a couple of good attempts from Abu Francis and Kamaldeen Sulemana.
But FC Helsingør, who fielded what can probably be described as the A-team in the first half, defended well, and it took a touch of genius before FC Nordsjælland could take the lead after about 40 minutes of play. Kamaldeen was sent through with a long pass into space, and used his heel to take the ball over his own head. The trick beat FCH’s defense, and one-on-one with Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard, Kamaldeen calmly put the ball in the net for a 1-0 lead.
In the second half both teams substituted all 11 players, and that produced a more chaotic match, with more chances for both sides, and quite a few more goals.
It was FC Helsingør who got on the scoreboard first. Oliver Kjærgaard cut into the FCN box after 54 minutes of play, and was brought down illegally. Callum McCowatt took the penalty, and although Martin Vantruba in the FCN goal saved the initial shot, Callum followed up himself, almost tackling the ball into the goal past Vantruba for 1-1.
After 68 minutes FCN were ahead again. Chukwuemeka Paul Nnamani fooled FCH’s defense with an opportunistic run in behind, and ran past everyone. Alone with Frederik Rej-Rosenqvist, he put the ball in the net. Rej-Rosenqvist came out well, and got a touch on the finish, but he could not prevent it from going in for 2-1.
FC Helsingør pressed on, and Anosike Ementa and Callum McCowatt had several moves leading to chances, without succeeding in getting the ball in.
We had to wait until the 81th minute before FCH got the reward for their pressure and equalized. Sebastian Czajkowski had been substituted on in place of Anosike Ementa, and he got a good ball at his feet on the left side of the pitch, just outside FCN’s box. Czajkowski made a good diagonal dribble into the box and placed a sharp shot into the far corner for 2-2.
That left FCH with only a little under ten minutes to hold on to a fine result, but in the closing minutes a bit of inattentive defending first led to FCN’s goal for 3-2, as the ball ping-ponged around in the box without FCH clearing it, and then Nnamani could force the ball the last bit over the line for an FCN lead.
Shortly after, FCH were denied a penalty, when an FCN player handled the ball in his own box, but the referee team chose, somewhat incomprehensibly, not to award it, despite it being visible all the way up in the back rows.
And just before the final whistle, Nnamani completed his hat-trick, when a strong diagonal ball of over 30 meters landed out by FCN’s left wing. He got almost all the way down to the byline, where he delivered a sharp, low cross. An FCH player managed to get a foot to it, but unfortunately the ball went straight out to Nnamani, who fired it in under the crossbar, giving Frederik Rej-Rosenqvist no chance.
Thus the match ended with a 4-2 defeat for FC Helsingør, but based on play and chances it was probably at least one goal too many, and especially in the first half the young Superliga talents from FCN had 1. Division team dancing. FC Helsingør’s next task is another training match, also against a Superliga opponent. It is against FC Copenhagen, and it is on Wednesday.
FCH (1. Half): K. Stuhr Ellegaard, D. Norouzi, N. Hansen, P. Rejnhold, A. Holst, C. Lange, Sean Bright (trialist), F. Juul Christensen, L. Haren, T. Adamsen (trialist), Mileta Rajkovic (trialist)
FCH (2. half) F. Rej-Rosenqvist, F. Bay, E. Rasmussen (U19), M. “Mac” Christensen, Mohammed Youssef (trialist), D. Boysen, Alexander Hjelmhof (trialist), Dylan Enrique (trialist), O. Kjærgaard, A. Ementa, C. McCowatt.
Substituted on: S. Czajkowski
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
