It ended in a 2-1 defeat when FC Helsingør visited FC Roskilde on Sunday. It was the home team that had the biggest chances, and despite a good late push from FCH it was hard to argue against the defeat.
After just three minutes, FCR's Mikkel Nøhr got a ball at his feet on the edge of offside. He stormed toward goal and was alone with Viktor Anker. But the FCH goalkeeper stayed on his feet, blocked Nøhr's shot, and then won the ball himself. A great chance for Roskilde.
Three minutes later, a corner to Roskilde was not cleared properly from the FCH box. The ball ended up on the right wing, where it was crossed in front of goal again. Here Emil Nielsen rose highest at the far post and headed it back toward the far corner. But Viktor Anker got all the way across at full stretch and managed to catch the ball. Good save by the young keeper.
On the ensuing goal kick from Anker, Douglas got away in behind and shot from the edge of the box. His shot, however, went wide, and perhaps he should have passed to Nicolas Mortensen, who had made the run into the box. But a fine counterattack by FCH's forwards.
Roskilde had most of the play in the first 20 minutes, and FCH had difficulty getting the passing game to flow. So it was symptomatic that it was from a long pass by Andreas Holm that Carl Lange got free in the box after 21 minutes. Under heavy pressure from behind by a Roskilde defender, he tried to lob the ball over goalkeeper Jannich Storch, but unfortunately the ball went both over the goal and the goalkeeper.
After 27 minutes, Jonas Henriksen threw in a long throw-in, which was headed on in the box by both Andreas Holm and Douglas before it was eventually cleared out of the area. It dropped at Lange's feet, and he took the shot from distance. The ball dipped dangerously, but unfortunately went just over the crossbar again. Good shot from Lange.
Just after we had passed the half-hour mark, a sharp cross found Nicolai Vallys in front of FCH's goal, and he rose highest between friends and foes. Fortunately for the visitors, Vallys got completely under the ball, and it went a good distance wide.
Five minutes later, Emil Nielsen broke away on the left side and beat his marker. He cut inside the box and shot, but Viktor Anker had come well out of his goal and again blocked the attempt. Important save by Anker.
Just before the clock reached the 40 minutes, Mikkel Nøhr turned two FCH players on the right side and cut across the box. He shot from the center of goal, but again Viktor Anker saved the shot and blocked a follow-up from Emil Nielsen. Viktor Anker was clearly Helsingør's best player in the first half, and the main reason the teams went into the break with 0-0 on the scoreboard.
But the second half had barely begun before the home team went ahead. Stefan Hansen rose highest from a corner after 48 minutes, and although Viktor Anker got a hand to it, he could not prevent the ball from going in. A cold shower for FCH and the well-playing goalkeeper, and a terrible start to the half.
1-0 FC Roskilde.
Two minutes later FCH won a corner. It was initially cleared out of the box, but dropped to Patrick Olsen, who struck it after a single touch inside the box. But Jannich Storch made a feverish save to push the ball over the goal. A big chance to respond to FCR's lead.
After the goal, Helsingør tried to apply higher pressure, but Roskilde was constantly lurking on the counterattacks. Several times the home team won corners that were dangerous, but FC Helsingør managed to get out of trouble.
After 68 minutes Emil Nielsen broke on a counterattack. He was played free just by the halfway line and was completely through on goal alone. Viktor Anker rushed out of his goal and managed to block Emil Nielsen's shot, but unfortunately for the FCH goalkeeper his block went straight to Roskilde's Morten Nielsen, who shot from long range. Frederik Bay tried in vain to reach the ball, but the long-range effort was exactly where it needed to be, and the ball flew into the goal.
2-0 FC Roskilde
Four minutes later FC Roskilde had two big chances within a minute. First a Roskilde player smashed the ball onto the crossbar from a position on the left side of the box, and shortly after a short corner combination led to a shot from distance by Patrick Da Silva, which Anker had to stretch fully to save.
But after 73 minutes FCH finally managed to get on the board. Lange and Holst worked the ball up into the box, and Lange tried a shot from a tight angle. The shot was blocked, but landed at Nicolas Mortensen's feet in front of goal, and he hammered a hard shot into the net behind a helpless Jannich Storch.
2-1 FC Helsingør
After 80 minutes it was close for Patrick Olsen. A ball was dropped into the box by Carl Lange, and Nicolas Mortensen laid it back to Patrick. He shot first time toward the far post, but this time Storch got down to the shot and blocked it. A great chance for the midfielder.
Just as the stadium clock reached the 90 minutes, Bay sent a free kick into the Roskilde box. Douglas got to the ball and shot on goal, but the attempt was again blocked in the six-yard box. From the ensuing corner, it was very close to Andreas Holm equalizing, as the captain rose highest at the near post. But unfortunately his header went just wide of the post.
Two minutes into stoppage time, a cleared ball fell to Patrick Olsen just outside the box, but the midfielder could not get his shot down enough, and it went just over the angle of the crossbar and post. That was the last action of the match, and despite a good late spell of pressure from FC Helsingør, the visitors still had to return to Helsingør with a defeat in their luggage.
FCH: Anker, Bay, Holm, Jørgensen, Henriksen, Basse, Olsen, Holst, Lange, Douglas, Mortensen.
Referee: Aydin Uslu
