FC Helsingør played the first match after parting ways with Christian Lønstrup, and gave themselves a good starting point for the rest of their journey in football history with a 2-1 win over Lyngby BK, who could easily have conceded a couple more goals.
The match now started fairly evenly, with a lot of duels and free kicks in midfield, and neither of the two teams created much in the first ten minutes. After the first ten minutes, Douglas was brought down five meters outside the box. TK went for goal, but Lyngby goalkeeper Oscar Snorre tipped the otherwise good attempt over the goal. From the ensuing corner, the ball made its way all through the box, where Douglas tried a bicycle kick, but the big Brazilian only kicked at thin air.
After 20 minutes, FC Helsingør came close. After a cross from Jonas Henriksen, the ball ended up with captain Andreas Holm, who took a couple of neat dribbles in the box and laid the ball flat and hard across the small box, where Pascal Gregor was centimeters away from getting a touch at the back post. Strong attacking play from the two center-backs.
Three minutes later, Patrick Olsen found TK with a fine pass through the middle. He played it beautifully into the feet of Carl Lange, who made his first Nordicbet Liga match from the start. He made a deep run on the left side and cut into the box, where he finished decisively, but he forgot to “look at the laces,” and blasted the ball well over the goal.
Three minutes later Lange helped FCH create another big chance, as he again cut in from his left side with the ball, beat a Lyngby defender, and finished. The shot was blocked, went out to Lange again, but once more his effort was stopped. This time the rebound fell to Matheus, who was standing right on the edge of the box, but his finish was tipped over the goal by Oscar Snorre. Two big chances for FCH within a few minutes, and it was the home side that had a firm grip on both the match and possession during this phase of the game.
After half an hour of play, Lyngby got their best chance so far. The away side was awarded a somewhat soft free kick on the edge of the box, but Rezan Corlu’s free kick went a meter over the goal.
Instead, it was FC Helsingør who could take the lead after 35 minutes of play. Carl Lange had played a really fine half, and was brought down ten meters outside the box when he cleverly carried the ball forward and beat his marker. Lange delivered the free kick into the box, where Daniel Jørgensen rose highest and powerfully headed the ball in.
1-0 FC Helsingør
Three minutes before halftime, Patrick Olsen won a ball just outside FCH’s own box. He found Lange in behind, and the young winger set off sprinting with the ball. Douglas ran with him, and was played perfectly through by Lange. The big striker was one-on-one with Lyngby’s goalkeeper, but had a defender on his back, and drifted a little too far to the right. There he tried to dribble past his marker, but could not get the ball under control, and the chance came to nothing. FC Helsingør therefore went into the break with a narrow 1-0 lead, after a half in which they had been clearly in the driver’s seat.
FC Helsingør continued where they left off after the break. After five minutes, TK found Douglas in the box with a razor-sharp chipped pass, but once again Lyngby blocked the shot. The ball ran out to Matheus, who turned sharply and struck, but the ball just skimmed over the crossbar. A minute later Douglas was centimeters away from poking in a flat cross, but a Lyngby defender got a foot to it at the last second. But it was in every sense FCH swarming around the opponent’s goal in the first ten minutes of the half.
After 56 minutes, Lyngby got their best chance so far. Mathias Hebo drove through the middle, got around his marker, and entered the box. There he finished past Mikkel Bruhn, and after the long corner, but the ball just missed the post. Uncomfortably close to the visitors equalizing.
71 minutes played. FCH won a free kick out on the right side. TK drove it hard and precisely into the box, and Pascal Gregor rose highest, but headed just wide. A big chance for the otherwise so prolific scoring defender.
Five minutes later, Carl Lange was on the move again down his left side. He found Douglas, who drove in behind and into the box. But once again the big striker was not quite free for an open shot, and goalkeeper Snorre could gather the ball. Douglas put in an exemplary work rate throughout the match, but his finishing lacked a little sharpness this Sunday.
That lack of sharpness unfortunately cost at the other end after 83 minutes, when Lyngby’s number six Mathias Hebo got going down the right side. He played a razor-sharp flat cross diagonally back into the box, which found Adam Sørensen at the back post, and all he had to do was put the ball away with a simple finish.
1-1 Lyngby.
It was against the run of play and chances that Lyngby equalized, and the FCH players looked like people thinking “damn no.” The aggression was turned up a notch, and the pressure on Lyngby even more intense.
Carl Lange was named man of the match at the stadium, and shortly after the goal he was played in beautifully by Anders Holst, cut into the box, beat a man and shot across goal. His fine shot hit the post and went back into play. A huge chance for the young talent.
But just before the stadium clock reached the 90 minute mark, justice finally arrived in Helsingør. Anders Holst, who had been substituted on for Douglas, surged irresistibly past a Lyngby defender on the right side of the box, and without hesitation struck a superb shot into the far corner. A superb finish from the substitute, and the cheers broke out along the stands.
FC Helsingør held on to the lead through four minutes of stoppage time, and could note not just an important victory, but also some of the best football on the pitch this season, and there could be no complaints about the result.
FCH: Bruhn, Bay, Jørgensen, Holm, Gregor, Henriksen, ”TK” Køhler, Olsen, Lange, Matheus, Douglas
Substitutes: Mohammad, Fisch, Holst.
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
