FC Helsingør’s debut match in the Alka Superliga started well, but ended with a narrow defeat to Hobro at DS Arena.
Already after six minutes, Mikkel Basse put Helsingør ahead when the ball, after a corner kick, was cleared out to the edge of the box. Here the midfielder was first to the ball, and volleyed it in close to the left post and out of the goalkeeper’s reach.
1-0 FC Helsingør
Hobro were, however, throughout the match good at breaking up Helsingør’s play and used their physical strength well, and although it was Helsingør who took the lead, it was actually Hobro who started the match best. They had several promising attacks, and after just over a quarter of an hour things nearly went wrong when a Hobro player got free for a shot, and Søren Henriksen had to make a sliding tackle in the box that blocked it at the last second.
After that, FC Helsingør came better into the match and played their way into several chances. The lively André Riel first tried a cheeky chip to two advancing Helsingør players, who, however, could not reach the ball, and a few minutes later last season’s top scorer fired a devilish long-range shot that forced Hobro’s goalkeeper to stretch fully to save it.
The rest of the first half was very even, and Hobro came close once from a "director's seat" chance, when a short corner was played flat into the box, but neither friend nor foe got a foot on the ball. The half therefore ended with a 1-0 lead for Helsingør
When the 2. half was kicked off, it was without the otherwise well-playing Mads Aaquist, who had to go off with a minor overload in his hamstring. Anders Holst came on in midfield instead.
Hobro pressed from the start of the second half and came close several times in the first ten minutes, and Helsingør goalkeeper Mikkel Bruhn had to work on several occasions. There were also chances for Helsingør and in the 53. minute Pierre Larsen and André Riel combined brilliantly through the Hobro defense, but neither of them managed to finish in time, and what was otherwise a big chance came to nothing.
Helsingør then began to play their way around Hobro’s press, with many fine combinations and good technical play. It was therefore somewhat undeserved that Hobro equalized after 65 minutes. Goalkeeper Mikkel Bruhn played the ball out of the box to Andreas Holm, who unfortunately had a poor touch on the ball and laid it on for an advancing Pål Kirkevold, who played it across to Martin Mikkelsen, who from an offside position edge finished the ball confidently.
1-1 Hobro
Twelve minutes later it went wrong again for Helsingør, when a Hobro corner was nodded on to the far post, where substitute Quincy Antipas stood unmarked and could put the ball in for a Hobro lead.
2-1 Hobro
In the last ten minutes Helsingør tried to get forward in search of an equalizer, which gave Hobro several chances on the break. The biggest was a shot off the inside of the post from Quincy Antipas, but neither team managed to score, and thus what had otherwise been a promising and well-played match from Helsingør’s side ended with a 2-1 victory for the home team from Hobro.
