FC Helsingør ended a fantastic autumn with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Avarta, who were not prepared to give any gifts to 2. Division leaders. FCH had to fight for it in earnest, and only at the very end did Jeppe Kjær decide the matter with two brilliant goals.
The start of the match was a bit messy, with quite a few small fouls and midfield duels. It was FC Helsingør who started best, with chances for both Lucas Haren and Nicolas Mortensen in the first minutes, but also a yellow card for Carl Lange after a sliding tackle. Lange himself had a shot from distance after ten minutes, but it did not trouble the goalkeeper in the Avarta goal.
Lange was active from the start of the match, and after 18 minutes Lucas Haren won a corner. It was flicked on in front by Nicolaj Hansen, and Lange shot again, but unfortunately for FCH the ball went over the goal. When you don't score on your chances, it unfortunately gives the opponents an opportunity to strike back, and that was what happened next. After 22 minutes of play Avarta intercepted a ball in FCH's half and launched a quick counterattack. Oliver Cararra sprinted all the way into the FCH box and coolly put the ball into the goal between Christoffer Petersen's legs.
1-0 BK Avarta
After that followed a period where FCH tried to put pressure on Avarta. Carl Lange had a free kick from distance, and an otherwise fine cross from Jonas Henriksen ended up with Avarta's goalkeeper. But it was not until after 33 minutes that FCH got the next big chance. Jeppe Kjær turned beautifully in the box and found Nicolas Mortensen, but FCH's top scorer could not get the ball turned into the goal. That sparked a period of heavy pressure on the Avarta goal towards the end of the half, with shots from Lucas Haren and Jeppe Kjær, both blocked, as well as a long-range attempt from Daniel Norouzi that went over the goal. But it would not go in, and despite dominating both play and chances, the Helsingør players had to go into the break trailing 1-0.
The second half became a veritable storming of Avarta's goal, as FC Helsingør tried in every possible way to break down the heroically fighting Avarta players, who most often lay with all 11 men in their own half in tight lines. However, it was Avarta who had the first shot of the match, when they earned a corner after three minutes of play. A Skovshoved player rose highest in front, but Christoffer Petersen was where he should be and saved the attempt.
Two minutes later Lucas Haren sent a shot toward goal from a fairly free position, but a teammate got in the way and the ball went out for a goal kick. That was the start of the bombardment of the Avarta goal. Shortly after, Frederik Bay shot over the goal after a fine build-up and cross from Lucas Haren played the left back free, but he failed to keep the shot down.
Avarta then had a chance with a good shot from distance, which Christoffer Petersen had to punch away for a corner, but otherwise it was mostly FC Helsingør for the next half hour. First Kjær was blocked in the box after a cross from Carl Lange, and corner after corner rained into Avarta's box, where both Nikolaj Hansen and Nicolas Mortensen were close on several occasions, but Avarta also had many successful clearances.
After 74 minutes Lucas Haran again came close to a big chance, when he got the ball on the edge of the box and struck from distance. Avarta's goalkeeper had to stretch fully to save the shot, which deserved a better fate.
Five minutes later Daniel Norouzi was brought down by a heavy foul some way outside Avarta's box. Nicolas Mortensen went to take the ball, but he hit neither the day nor the ball today, and it flew a good distance over the goal.
But four minutes before regular time ran out, the relief finally came for the hard-working FC Helsingør players. The newly crowned national team player Elijah Just had been substituted on a few minutes earlier and carried the ball forward on the left side. “Eli” cut inside and sent the ball toward goal surrounded by a larger cluster of friends and foes. In front of goal an Avarta player blocked the shot, but unfortunately for him the block laid the ball perfectly into the path of Jeppe Kjær, who hammered it low and hard into the net with no chance for Avarta's goalkeeper.
1-1 FC Helsingør
And in stoppage time it was also Jeppe Kjær who hammered the final nail into the coffin for the hard-pressed Avarta players, who had been in front until the 86 minute. After a bit of ping-pong play outside Avarta's box, Jeppe Kjær himself got hold of the ball with his back to goal. He turned on a dime, fooled his marker and drove into the box. There he carried the ball across, as so many times before in his career, past two Avarta defenders, and sent it coldly into the far corner with a controlled shot, while the FCH bench and the many travelling spectators went wild with joy.
1-2 FC Helsingør
It was the last dangerous action of the match, and after the game the FC Helsingør players could celebrate a fantastic half-season and a deserved victory with an ecstatic victory song that for once was sung together with the FCH fans, who had to wait patiently for today's win.
Now a long winter break awaits before the restart on 06 March, when Brønshøj will visit Helsingør.
On behalf of the players and the club, we would like to thank you all for the fantastic support in the autumn. This includes both the many fans who have made our new stadium by far the most visited in the 2 Division, as well as the away fans who week after week have traveled all over Zealand to support the boys at more or less exotic stadiums. See you in the spring!
FCH: Petersen, Bay, Hansen, Holm, Henriksen (90’ Olsen), Lange (73’ Just), Norouzi, “TK” Kristensen, Haren, Kjær (90’ Christensen), Mortensen
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
