It ended in a very convincing 4-1 win, as FC Helsingør faced 2 on Thursday evening. Divisions colleagues from Avarta in the penultimate training match before the season start on the 6. of March. It was a match where a small handful of U19 players got playing time, and where the coaching staff tested different tactical measures
But it began as we have come to know it, with a 4-4-2 formation, although there were quite a few players from the regular starting 11 on the bench. FCH came out with a more defensive approach than usual, and Avarta were fine with that for the first five to ten minutes.
There were still scattered hints of FCH chances from the start of the match, and Jeppe Kjær had a dangerous shot shortly into the first half that did not trouble Avarta’s goalkeeper.
But after 13 minutes Eli Just played a good 1-2 combination with Carl Lange, and found Jeppe Kjær on the left side of the Avarta box with a good pass. Kjær did what Kjær does, and cut across the box to the right, and blasted a shot in from the edge of the box. Avarta’s goalkeeper got a hand to it, but could not prevent Kjær’s powerful shot from going in, and then it was 0-1 for the visitors from Helsingør.
0-1 FC Helsingør
Five minutes later it was Teddy Bergqvist, who was paired with Kjær, who put in a good shot. Jeppe Kjær lobbed a high ball forward to Carl Lange, who was out on the left side of the pitch. Lange got the ball between two men at first and drove towards goal. In the ensuing duel on the edge of the box the ball was tackled across and straight to Teddy, who was standing centrally in front of goal. He took a single touch and smashed it high into the middle of the goal, and once again Avarta’s goalkeeper had to watch a ball he just managed to get a hand to, slip into the net behind him.
0-2 FC Helsingør
After that followed a period where Avarta sat a little deeper and closed down better, and there were no further goals in the first half, despite a couple of respectable long-range attempts from TK and Carl Lange, as well as a good effort from Lucas Haren on the right side that forced the goalkeeper into a good save.
Already after half an hour FCH changed several players, and switched to a slightly altered formation with Teddy alone up front and five men in midfield, and there was playing time for Matias “Mac” Christensen and namesake Lucas Christensen, called “C”, at left back.
From the start of the second half FCH again played the first minutes more cautiously in order to train counterattacking and a defensive setup, and that allowed Avarta to get a little more on the ball, and Christoffer Petersen, who played the full match for FCH, had to dive down and save after just a few minutes of play.
Towards the 60. minute FCH again turned up the heat a little, and both Teddy Bergqvist and Lucas Haren had a couple of decent attempts. Teddy actually managed to fool the goalkeeper in the 59. minute with a neat lob, but the Swede was just offside, and the goal did not count.
But after a little over an hour of play FCH could add another goal to the tally. A rare one of the sort from Ricki Olsen. Eli Dalton was brought down from behind just outside the Avarta box, and the experienced right-back stepped up to take the ball. On the icy and bumpy artificial turf, Ricki curled the ball as naturally as could be around the wall and into the goal near the right post. A magnificent free-kick goal from the veteran.
0-3 FC Helsingør
The goal gave the home side a bit more momentum, and five minutes later they pulled one back. Out on the left wing one of their attacking players got free, and he quickly drove towards goal. After carrying the ball up to the side of the box he sent in a hard, low cross, and before the FCH defence had got into position, an Avarta player centrally could safely put the ball into the net on Avarta’s first big chance in the match.
1-3 Avarta
The second half, like many of these training matches, was marked by many substitutions, and there was not much rhythm from either team in the closing stages of the match. This suited FC Helsingør best, however, and we were on top for most of the play from the 70. minute onwards. After 76 minutes came perhaps the match’s most beautiful goal. Substitute Anders Holst received the ball in midfield, and took a very, very fine solo run up through the middle, where he managed to dribble past three or four Avarta players in one of those dribbling runs where you suspect the opponents are still dazed tomorrow. When Holst reached the box, he coolly laid it across to the surging Carl Lange on the other side of the box, and completely free Lange just as calmly placed the ball under the goalkeeper and into the “far” corner. A superb FCH goal!
1-4 FC Helsingør
Avarta got one last chance in added time to reduce the deficit, when an Avarta player won a free kick just outside the box. The former FC Helsingør U19 player Emil Wass took the shot, which he beautifully curled around the wall, but Christoffer Petersen was alert in front of it and blocked the sneaky effort with a good save.
The match could not offer much more, and FC Helsingør continued their unbeaten run in winter’s training matches. On Saturday it is the final test match against Køge Nord FC at home, and then we can start to see the spring premiere against Brønshøj on the horizon.
FCH: C. Petersen, R. Olsen, N. Hansen (J. Henriksen), HC “Kritte” Bonnesen (Holm), L. Christensen U19 (D. Norouzi), E. Just, Mathias “Mac” Christensen U19 (F. Christensen), C. Lange, T. Berqvist (A. Ementa U19), Jeppe Kjær (L. Haren)
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
