FC Helsingør had a tough task against the relegation candidates from Silkeborg, and it became one of those days where very little went right for FCH. Silkeborg therefore ended up taking a 3-0 win, which was hard to argue against.
It was also the home team that started most aggressively, and the FCH players did not get much time on the ball. After four minutes, FCH pressed high up in Silkeborg’s half, but SIF won the ball and sent Stephan Pedersen away on a counterattack. The lightning-fast winger beat his man and laid the ball across just outside the FCH box, where Ronnie Schwartz had made the long run. The dangerous striker placed the ball into the far corner with a precise finish, with no chance for Mikkel Bruhn.
1-0 Silkeborg
FC Helsingør did not give up, however, and for the next ten minutes Helsingør kept the ball moving confidently around, and got forward well down the flanks, though without really creating any danger. Silkeborg were constantly looking to get away on one of their dangerous counterattacks. After 16 minutes it almost paid off, when a quick ball was played into the box from the right side. Up front, a SIF player jumped over the ball, and Mads Emil Madsen took the shot, but fortunately it went wide. Two minutes later exactly the same scenario repeated itself, when the ball was again played in from the right, a Silkeborg player jumped over it, and a man was left free in front for the finish. But once again the shot was poor, to FC Helsingør’s relief, as they were under pressure in this phase.
FCH then got their defence slightly better organized, and managed nicely to move the ball around, but again it was difficult to find holes in Silkeborg’s defensive lines, and the away side could not play their way to big chances.
After 34 minutes, Silkeborg, in contrast, created three big chances from corners. On both occasions the ball was played short and low, then laid back into the box from the near post, and both times Mikkel Bruhn managed to block the subsequent shot out of the box at the last second. From the third corner, the ball came all the way to Ronnie Schwartz at the back of the box, but he swung at thin air, and the chance came to nothing.
Four minutes later things went wrong for FCH. Mikkel Bruhn tried to dribble past Ronnie Schwartz, but the striker got between the goalkeeper and the ball, and Bruhn put his hands into Schwartz’s back, causing him to go down immediately. The referee blew without hesitation for the penalty, which was hard to dispute. Ronnie Schwartz took it himself, and did so confidently, with a hard and precise shot high into the net, and Helsingør were two behind.
2-0 Silkeborg
With 43 minutes played, Holst got the ball in behind, he played it on to Nicolas Mortensen, who was quite free a little way outside the Silkeborg box. Mortensen took the shot from distance and struck the ball almost perfectly, beating goalkeeper Peter Friis, but his excellent effort hit the inside of the post and came back out. FC Helsingør’s biggest chance of the match, and a superb shot from Mortensen, who had deserved a better fate. Despite a long-range effort that went just over the crossbar from Schwartz shortly before the break, no more goals were scored, and FC Helsingør had to go into half-time trailing 0-2.
Helsingør came out for the second half better than they had in the first. Less than three minutes had been played when Matheus, with a clever move, got past his man on the right side and played the ball centrally. Lange just failed to get to the ball, which went on to Frederik Bay. He laid it back from the byline to Anders Holst, whose fine shot hit the crossbar. A good start from FCH.
After 56 minutes, Patrick Olsen won the ball on Silkeborg’s right side and played Nicolas Mortensen completely free on the edge of the box. Mortensen finished decisively toward the right corner, but Peter Friis came out and managed to punch the ball away. A big chance for Mortensen.
But despite FC Helsingør’s bright start to the half, it was still Silkeborg who scored next. Once again it was a quick regain and a quick ball in behind that stretched FCH thin. Okkels got the ball deep in front of FCH’s box and laid it off to Sebastian Jørgensen, who played a sharp ball back centrally to Magnus Mattsson, who shot first time and placed the ball perfectly into the far corner after 65 minutes of play.
3-0 Silkeborg
The goal caused Silkeborg to drop ten to fifteen meters back on the pitch, and FC Helsingør again got hold of much of the play with the ball, but still had trouble getting through Silkeborg’s compact lines. Silkeborg had the physical upper hand when they were not forced to attack, and the Helsingør players, despite a good fight, most often had to watch SIF win the ball at the very last moment.
Silkeborg were content to sit deep and then try to play quickly forward when they won it back. Right before the 90 minutes mark, that created a chance for Ronnie Schwartz, who made a smart run in behind and received a good ball in the box from the right side. However, the striker overhit his shot, which went a fair distance over the goal.
In stoppage time, Silkeborg had a couple of shots from both Mikkel Vendelbo and substitute Casper Sloth, but there were no further goals, and FC Helsingør had to admit that they had not had their day and therefore had to go home with a 3-0 defeat in their luggage.
FCH: Bruhn, Bay, Holm, Gregor, Henriksen, Christian ”TK” Kôhler, Olsen, Lange, Holst, Matheus (78’ Willumsen), Mortensen (72 Basse)
Referee: Christian Moen
Photo: FC Helsingør
