There was bright sunshine and plenty of happy Englishmen and Danes enjoying the weather, the football and the draft beer in Thursday’s training match against English Crystal Palace. And FC Helsingør earned a fine draw in their third preseason match of the summer, when last season’s No. 11 in the Premier League visited Helsingør Stadion
It was FC Helsingør who got off to the better start. After six minutes, FCH won a throw-in just outside the box, which TK took. The characteristic long throw was cleared out of the area and fell to the feet of Anders Holst, who let fly, but it went a bit over. That was the start of a couple of good minutes for the Helsingør players. A corner a minute later was headed back into the box, where Andreas Holm got to the ball, but the captain managed to get his shot blocked on the line.
But it took only one more minute before FC Helsingør went ahead. A sharply delivered corner from “TK” was flicked on in the box, where Douglas rose highest and powered a header into the net past Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita
1-0 FC Helsingør
The goal woke Crystal Palace up, and shortly after they were close to breaking through on the left side. But Pascal Gregor followed the ball over the byline before the English front line could get to it. From the ensuing corner, former FC Midtjylland player Alexander Sørloth was close to getting on the end of a header, but the ball sailed through the box without reaching either friend or foe.
After fifteen minutes of play, Sørloth was sent away down the right flank, but Pascal Gregor got between ball and man again, and disrupted Sørloth long enough for Mikkel Bruhn to get down to the ball. Palace’s best chance so far.
After 19 minutes, it went wrong for FC Helsingør. Sulley KaiKai sprinted down the right side, from something that suspiciously looked like offside, but the assistant referee’s flag stayed down. Kaikai found Alexander Sørloth in front of goal with a low, sharp cross, and the Norwegian had no trouble steering the ball into the net, with no chance for Mikkel Bruhn.
1-1 Crystal Palace
27 minutes played. Anders Holst won the ball centrally and drove forward through the middle. He found Frederik Bay, who had moved up on the left side, but the left back’s finish lacked power and was no problem for Guaita in the Palace goal.
Just over half an hour into the match, Patrick Olsen played a fine cross from the right toward the far post, where Douglas was centimeters away from getting in front of Wan-Bissaka, but the big defender did enough to put the Brazilian off, and his header went wide of the post.
After 36 minutes, Holst rose highest to meet a cross into the box, the ball was cleared out again, and fell to the feet of Matheus, who struck low and hard toward the far corner. Right in front of goal, it was once again only centimeters from Douglas getting a foot on the ball. A huge chance for FC Helsingør.
A couple of minutes later, Adnan was brought down in a scramble just outside the box. Frederik Bay went for the ball, but his otherwise excellent free kick went just wide of the post. But FC Helsingør were the more threatening side in this phase of the match. Already the minute after, Adnan played a cheeky one-two in the box with Matheus, but the final touch was a little too long, and the goalkeeper just managed to get down to the feet of the little dribbler and snuff out the chance.
Two minutes before the break, goalkeeper Guaita had to go down and block again, when Douglas chipped the ball across and found Frederik Bay, who had once again slipped into the space behind at the far post. But the Crystal Palace goalkeeper had a good half, and again got a hand to the ball at the last moment.
Thus the teams could go into halftime with one goal each on the board, and FC Helsingør could look back on a half in which they had created by far the most chances, but perhaps just lacked the final sharpness.
The second half was barely five minutes old when FC Helsingør won a free kick about 30 meters from goal. TK struck a cheeky dipping ball, but an advancing Pascal Gregor just failed to reach the pass. Good start from FCH.
After an hour, Crystal Palace brought on Wilfried Zaha, Mahmadou Sakho and Christian Benteke. It had not taken more than a couple of minutes before the Premier League stars showed their class. Benteke headed across, McArthur got just a touch on the ball so it continued on to Mahmadou Sakho, who headed home confidently at the far post.
1-2 Crystal Palace
FC did not give up that easily, though, and five minutes later they were close when Matheus got a shot away in the box after the ball had been ping-ponged around a bit. His effort was however cleared off the line. In the resulting attack, FCH forced a corner, which Douglas met at the back of the box, but his header went just over the crossbar. Good chances for the home side.
Both Crystal Palace and FC Helsingør made a number of substitutions as the second half progressed. FCH among others brought on trialists Kristian Andersen, Carl Lange and Michael Tørnes, together with Daniel Jørgensen, Pierre Larsen and Jonas Henriksen from the regular squad.
The substitutions took a little of the pace out of the match, but Pierre Larsen did show a glimpse of his speed on the right flank, while Mahmadou Sakho also showed a glimpse of strong defending.
But six minutes from time, Daniel Jørgensen whipped a low cross into the box, where Patrick Olsen, in a hard battle with a Palace defender, managed to turn the ball into the net. There was a fair amount of discussion about whether it was an own goal or not, but the goal stood, and the scoreboard showed 2-2
2-2 FC Helsingør
The goal gave FCH blood in their veins, and it was the home side that pushed forward into stoppage time, which among other things led to one dangerous corner, but there were no more goals, and FC Helsingør could note a fine and not least well-played draw against the traditional club from London.
FC Helsingør: Bruhn, Bay, Holm, Gregor, Fisch, Holst, K�hler, Olsen, Mohammad, Matheus, Douglas
Substitutes: Tørnes, Jørgensen, K. Andersen, Lange, Larsen, J. Henriksen
