A thrilling finish to the season is on the cards after FC Helsingør drew for the second weekend in a row and, with results in the other relegation battles, edged a point closer to the line.
FC Helsingør were the better side for much of the match, and less than a minute had been played when Fredrik Bay first got past his man on the right side and played the ball flat into the box. Osama Akharraz dribbled the ball around himself, and just failed to get a shot away before the ball was cleared out of the area. Douglas was waiting there, but the big Brazilian sent his finish a good distance over the goal.
That was the last good action from unfortunate Osama Akharraz, who had to go off injured after less than ten minutes of play. He was replaced by Matheus.
Right after the substitution, it was close again. A ball fell somewhat fortunately to Nicolas Mortensen in a situation where the Næstved players were not at all in position. Mortensen headed a shot from long range, and the ball flew into the goal, but the referee’s arm was unfortunately already raised for offside.
After fifteen minutes, Næstved had their first chance. On a quick counterattack, a Næstved player got free on the left side, where he beat his man and put in an excellent cross in front of goal. There Næstved’s Raffaelson had run in behind the FCH defense, and he headed the ball hard and unstoppable past Mikkel Bruhn
0-1 Næstved
FC Helsingør had most of the play, but Næstved were constantly lurking for counterattacks for their quick attacking players. However, FCH managed several times to get crosses in, where especially Frederik Bay was a good man for the home side, but there was a lack of end product in the box, where Næstved stood solid. Thus we had to go all the way to 35. minute before FCH got a shot on target again. It was “TK” who fired from a good distance outside the box, but his dipping shot went straight at Næstved goalkeeper Christoffer Petersen.
Three minutes later FC Helsingør got a good chance in two attempts. Patrick Olsen got the ball in the middle and drove up to the edge of the box, where he sent a controlled finish toward the opposite corner of the goal. Christoffer Petersen got down all the way by the post and got a hand to the ball. The shot went back into play and rolled straight out to Douglas, who finished from a tight angle. Unfortunately his shot went just the wrong side of the post and into the side netting.
Right before the break, FCH had another good opportunity. A set piece into the box was flicked on by Collen Warner and ended up dropping in front of Matheus. But the striker could not direct his finish the right way around the Næstved players in the box, and the ball went wide.
So FC Helsingør had to go into the dressing room behind 0-1, after an otherwise decent first half.
Three minutes into the second half, FCH had their first chance. Collen Warner played a ball into the box from the right side, and up front Nicolas Mortensen was positioned centrally in front of goal. However, he could not quite get around it, and his finish again went wide.
Six minutes into the half, Næstved had their first chance. A ball was carried up on the left side, and with a clever move the Næstved player got into the box. There he finished hard and low, but Mikkel Bruhn got a hand to the shot. A big chance for the visitors.
But it was FC Helsingør who got on the scoresheet first in the second half, after 54 minutes. Matheus got the ball outside his own box and broke into a run. He got past first one, then two players, and was finally brought down five meters outside the Næstved box. Patrick Olsen stepped up to the ball, and the midfielder blasted a shot into the left side of the goal, just beyond the reach of Næstved’s goalkeeper. A superb free-kick goal.
1-1 FC Helsingør
The goal fired up the Helsingør players, and Næstved were busy defending. The match entered a phase with many fouls and physical duels, and not so much polished play. That suited Næstved a little better than FCH, and there was a long gap between the clear chances over the next twenty minutes.
Just after the clock passed the 80 minute mark, Næstved played around the FCH box, and eventually a sharp pass came in and found Iaar Ibrahim, who was tackled hard. The stadium held its breath, but fortunately the referee judged it to have been fair, which Næstved’s fans were, to put it mildly, not pleased with in their section.
Stoppage time was approaching inexorably, and FCH pressed and pressed. In the third minute of stoppage time, Collen Warner made a fine run to beat his marker and played a superb pass into the area. But Nicolas Mortensen was marked and could not direct his finish into the goal. That ran the clock out for FC Helsingør, but for the second match in a row they could add a point to the tally, and thus came another point closer to the line, before the final two matches against Nykøbing and Lyngby.
FCH: Bruhn, Jørgensen, Henriksen, Gregor, Bay, ”TK” Køhler (Basse ’78), Olsen, Warner, Akharraz (’10 Matheus), Mortensen, Douglas (Holst ’67)
Referee: Kasper Madsen
