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On Saturday FC Helsingør played their second training match on Danish soil, against Swedish Falkenbergs FF.
In the first half FCH fielded what looked like the strongest lineup, and were clearly better on the ball than the Swedes. They did, however, manage to put high pressure on the middle, and the Helsingør players had to work their way into the match, which was fairly even for the first ten minutes.
In the twelfth minute FCH did break down the Swedish defense. Pascal Gregor played a good through ball into space for newcomer Douglas, who turned his marker and struck low into the near corner.
1-0 FC Helsingør
And just two minutes later Douglas’ attacking partner Nicolas Mortensen also got on the scoresheet, as after a good run with the ball he fired it into the far corner.
2-0 FC Helsingør
Falkenbergs had trouble playing through Helsingør’s three-man defense, which had captain Andreas Holm back after his long-term back injury. But after 25 minutes one of Falkenbergs’ midfielders managed to get free in the middle of the box, but the cross was behind him, and he was forced to finish with his heel behind his standing leg. The acrobatic effort, however, went just past the post. But a beautiful finish.
FC Helsingør increasingly took control of midfield, and pushed the Swedes higher up the pitch. After 35 minutes Nicolas Mortensen glanced the ball on to an onrushing Adnan Mohammad, who put the ball away. Unfortunately the referee had raised his arm for offside, so the score remained 2-0 until the break.
In the second half Lønstrup and Gellert replaced the entire starting 11r, and Falkenbergs got a little more into the game. However, it was Frederik Roepsdorff, very impressive on the day, who had the first shot, as he struck hard from distance on a counterattack, but the ball went narrowly wide. A minute later Daniel Jørgensen got highest on an FCH corner, but once again the ball would not go in on the right side of the post.
After about an hour Falkenbergs then reduced the deficit, to the great joy of the over 100 Falkenbergs fans who had made the trip across the sound. A ball was played long out to the right side, where the FCH defenders could not agree on who should deal with it, and instead it was driven hard and low into the box, where a lonely but completely free Falkenbergs player only had to put a foot on it.
2-1 Falkenbergs FF
The goal woke up the FCH players, who pressed better up the pitch and began going for the third goal, which could have closed the match. Daniel Stückler had a couple of good attempts, and also put the ball in the net, but once again the goal was disallowed for offside.
The FCH pressure opened up room for a couple of dangerous Falkenbergs counters, and Adrian Kappenberger had to show his talent, as on a couple of occasions he had to come out in sweeper-keeper actions, where by a whisker he managed to kick the ball away.
In the 88th minute Melvin Frithzell had a shot against the post, but it seemed as if the sharpness was not quite there on the wet artificial pitch. We therefore had to wait until the very last minute before Matheus Leiria rose superbly to a corner and headed the ball in, unstoppable.
3-1 FC Helsingør
That proved to be the last action of the match, and FCH could celebrate a victory and promising footballing signs in a well-attended match at Snekkersten IF’s facilities.
FCH, 1. half: Vaporakis, Holm, S. Henriksen, Gregor, Bay, Adnan, Basse, P. Olsen, Christensen, Douglas, Mortensen
FCH, 2. Half: Kappenberger, Fisch, Jørgensen, Malte, Roepsdorff, Matheus, R. Olsen, Holst, Osama, Stückler, Frithzell
Pictures: FC Helsingør
