FC Helsingør broke a small curse when they finally managed to secure the long-awaited victory against HB Køge on Friday evening, sending them home to southern Zealand with a 3-1 defeat. The win came after a very well-played match, in which the victory was never really in danger for the home side.
Already after five minutes of play, former HB Køge player Liam Jordan was close, when an HB Køge player made a big mistake outside their own box and gifted the ball to the attacking player. Jordan took a touch into the area and fired at goal, but his shot went a good way over.
The minute after, Carl Lange was close when he drove forward through the middle and finished from mid-goal, but his shot also went a good way over.
All in all, it was the home side from FC Helsingør that controlled most of the entire first half, and HB Køge were for long periods pushed all the way back into their own box. In the ninth minute, Liam Jordan and Carl Lange were at it again, when Lange, after a throw-in from Anders Holst, played a good pass on to Jordan, who sent the ball just past the post.
We had to wait until the 11. minute before HB Køge had their first chance. Mikkel Qvist took a long throw-in that came all the way into the six-yard box. There, Anders Holst got highest and headed the ball onward. But it went no further than HB Køge's William Madsen, who struck the ball first time. But Holst was alert and blocked the shot with a quick save with his foot.
In the 13. minute, it was no longer working for HB Køge. Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard won an innocuous HB Køge ball, and laid the ball perfectly forward between two attacking players to Daniel Norouzi, who had a completely open midfield in front of him. Norouzi carried the ball forward and played it perfectly to Carl Lange, who drove up to the edge of the box, from where he sent an excellent shot in an arc into the top right corner. Sublime build-up all the way from the FCH goalkeeper, which ended with the perfect exclamation point
1-0 FC Helsingør
The goal lifted HB Køge a little, and they had a couple of good half-chances. They came closest just after the half-hour mark, when Mark Gundelach drove up along the touchline on the right side and put in a good, low cross across the goalmouth. In the box, first one, then two HB Køge players ran over the ball, which went all the way through the six-yard box until it eventually found Martin Koch Helsted. The former FCH player, however, put his shot straight into an FCH block, and that was all from that.
Instead, FCH could extend the lead two minutes later. Carl Lange played a precise through ball upfield from his own half and found Liam Jordan on a counterattack. Jordan broke away up the pitch, and David Boysen had joined him on the opposite side. Jordan played it across to Boysen at exactly the right moment, and Boysen was ice-cold in front of goal as he placed the ball hard and accurately past Oscar Snorre in the HB Køge goal, for another FCH goal.
2-0 FC Helsingør
But three minutes later HB Køge nevertheless pulled one back against the run of play and chances. Gundelach got away on yet another counterattack and delivered a sharp cross into the six-yard box. Centrally, there may have been a small foul on Anders Holst, but the referee's whistle stayed silent, and then Oliver Sonne could send the ball across the goal and into the far corner.
2-1 HB Køge
No more goals were scored in the first half, despite Carl Lange getting an enormously big chance five minutes before the break, when David Boysen put in a perfect cross to the back post after driving up the right side. Lange stood completely free, but the ball hit him on the hip and went just past the post, to the great frustration of the attacking player.
The second half started like the first, with high pressure from FC Helsingør and an HB Køge side that sat deep. The first big chances both fell to Lucas Haren. Liam Jordan played a sharp ball to Haren just after the break, sending him through on the run in behind, but in front of goal Haren unfortunately slipped, and the chance ran away from him. Ten minutes later Anders Holst came first, and then Lucas Haren got a shot away from tight angles, but both times the shot was blocked. Closest was Haren, who finished from a tight angle just outside the six-yard box, but Snorre saved.
FC Helsingør controlled most of the play, but there was a longer gap between the big chances than there had been in the first half. We had to wait until the 73. minute before FCH got the next big opportunity. Anders Holst delivered a sharp cross into the HB Køge box, where Carl Lange just narrowly could not get to the finish. At the far post, substitute Callum McCowatt was ready to send it back across the box. He put in a good ball onto the head of likewise substitute Eli Just, who rose well and headed toward the near post. But right down by the base of the post, an HB Køge defender got a saving foot to it and cleared the finish.
Callum McCowatt had a number of good actions after coming on, and already two minutes later he was close again when Eli Just played a good ball across the box, but Callum had just taken one step too many in front of the ball, and he sent it wide.
But three minutes from time, McCowatt finally got off the mark. First Oliver Kjærgaard, who had replaced Liam Jordan, dribbled past his man and slipped the ball diagonally in to McCowatt, who, all alone with Snorre, had to watch the HB Køge goalkeeper make a fine save. The ball, however, remained in the box, and McCowatt could try again. This time he sent a beautiful shot past both an HB Køge defender and Snorre in goal, and all the way by the post the ball went in, cementing FC Helsingør's victory. McCowatt's first goal for FC Helsingør, and the whole team celebrated with the hard-working striker.
3-1 FC Helsingør
HB Køge did not really manage to put pressure on in the closing stages, and FC Helsingør could bring home the victory without any great fuss.
The next assignment for FC Helsingør is away against FC Fredericia. It is next Sunday, the 18. April. The match kicks off at 14.00 and can, as always, be seen on viaplay.dk
FCH: K. Ellegaard, N. Mouritsen (45’ Bay), N. Hansen, P. Rejnhold, A. Holst, F. Juul Christensen, D. Norouzi, C. Lange (83’ Adamsen), L. Jordan (73’ O. Kjærgaard), L. Haren (’73E. Just), D. Boysen (’61 C. McCowatt)
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
