After two good matches against Hobro and OB, which unfortunately had only yielded points of the moral kind, FC Helsingør finally made it onto the Superliga Denmark map on Friday evening with a fine victory over SønderjyskE.
A well-played football match on a very nice pitch, however, started in the worst imaginable way, as a somewhat disjointed Helsingør side fell behind already after eight minutes. SønderjyskE’s strong right back Ramon Rodriguez delivered a low cross, which former Helsingør player Phillip Zinckernagel got a toe to and steered into the net.
1-0 SønderjyskE
After that, Helsingør struggled a bit to get the game together, and the goal gave the SønderjyskE players extra breathing room in the duels. But the boys from Helsingør did not give up, and slowly but surely they began stringing more and more passes together, and raised the level all over the pitch. After just 18 minutes, they created a big chance for Frederik Bay, when Mads Aaquist played a low cross across the box, but the wingback unfortunately failed to put the ball in the net.
That was not the last we would see of Aaquist in the match, however.
The next twenty minutes seesawed back and forth, with a slight advantage to the Sønderjyder, but also with chances the other way. And after 43 minutes, relief came for the Helsingør players, when Ricki Olsen delivered an excellent cross to Mads Aaquist, who safely drove a low shot into the far corner.
1-1 FC Helsingør
After the half-time tea, a Helsingør side came onto the pitch that was clearly lifted by the goal and had also gotten some things sorted out during the break. In the second half it was a differently aggressive FCH team that tackled, ran and played football, so it was hard to tell the difference between last season’s number six in the Alka Superliga and the promoted team from 1. division.
After nine minutes of the second half, the pressure paid off, when Mads Aaquist came close to a gigantic chance, but unfortunately he put the ball over the goal.
Helsingør controlled most of the play after that, and after a couple of big chances it was fully deserved when Mads Aaquist, with a quarter of an hour left of the match, could score his second goal of the game. Aaquist won the ball himself from a SønderjyskE player in the box, and struck hard at goal. The ball was deflected on the way and went in without a chance for SønderjyskE’s goalkeeper.
2-1 FC Helsingør
After the goal, FCH had three big chances to extend the lead further. Martin Fisch had two excellent headers, and André Riel had to watch a good finish being stopped by a fantastic save from SønderjyskE’s goalkeeper Mielitz.
But despite the advantage in play and chances, the win was still about to slip out of Helsingør’s hands, when the referee, after 83 minutes, somewhat incomprehensibly chose to award a penalty for a tackle by Søren Henriksen, which to most people appeared to have been made outside the box.
But Kees Luijckx nervously sent the ball over the goal, and then the Helsingør players could professionally let time run out, and record their first three points ever in the Alka Superliga.
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
