FC Helsingør continued the superb start in 1. Division, as Vendsyssel FF were sent home to North Jutland with a 3-0 defeat in their luggage, after a match where FC Helsingør’s victory was never really in doubt.
The match began with high pressing and excellent ball movement from the home side, and for large parts of the game Vendsyssel were on the back foot against FCH’s lively ball players.
After a quarter of an hour, Jeppe Kjær got a good ball at his feet. He turned on his marker and drove up the right side. Kjær was closely marked, but still managed to deliver a good cross. Up front, Czajkowski bothered the goalkeeper, who dropped the ball down between friends and foes in the box. Eli Just was there with his back to goal and tried to turn with the ball. In the challenge for the ball, Eli fell over, but while on the ground he still managed to poke the ball in at the near post.
1-0 FC Helsingør
Shortly after, the whole stadium cheered when Jeppe Kjær, on a beautifully played pass all the way from defence, broke free and ran directly at goal, where he tucked it away safely. But unfortunately the assistant referee’s flag was raised, as Kjær had been half a meter on the wrong side of the offside line.
For the next ten minutes, Vendsyssel moved deeper to stop FCH’s quick attacking play. That resulted in fewer chances at both ends, and quite a few physical duels in midfield. Daniel Norouzi and Frederik Juul stood well centrally and, as always, got in the way of most things with their huge work rate.
Five minutes before halftime, it was close again for Eli. Frederik Juul played a sharp pass up through the middle, straight to Sebastian Czajkowski, who laid it off to Eli. Eli, in the same movement, laid it off to Carl Lange, who laid it back to Eli. The quick 1-2 play caught Vendsyssel on the wrong foot, and on the final pass Eli was through on goal, with two defenders on his back. He shot, but the goalkeeper just got a hand to it and tipped it up into the air, after which he himself could gather the rebound. Great chance for Eli, but good goalkeeping.
Apart from a few hard duels, not much else happened in the first half before Vendsyssel, right at the end, got a cross into the box, where Kevin Stuhr had to come out and battle for the ball in the area. The experienced goalkeeper got the ball under control, but a couple of Vendsyssel players appealed for a penalty. However, the referee waved it away. FCH could thus go into the dressing room with a narrow lead.
From the start of the second half, FC Helsingør pushed a bit higher up and tried on several occasions in the first few minutes to get through the massive Vendsyssel defensive line, but the North Jutlanders repeatedly managed to fish the chestnuts out of the fire.
After 56 minutes, Eli was close again. He got the ball at his feet and dribbled past two opponents on his way into the box. Eli shot from a tight angle, but Vendsyssel keeper Kevin Ray Mendoza made a brilliant reflex save and prevented Eli from getting on the scoresheet again.
But five minutes later it was no longer possible for the visitors. Lucas Haren had been substituted in in the 61th minute, and it was almost with his first touch of the ball that Haren played a flat ball up between friend and foe, straight to Jeppe Kjær. The 1. Division top scorer took the ball past two defenders and simply ran away from them before calmly slotting it past Mendoza. Assist to Haren and goal to Kjær. It sounds like something we have written before.
2-0 FC Helsingør
After 69 minutes, Kjær got the ball again, this time in midfield from Frederik Juul. Kjær drove forward centrally and finished with a thunderous shot. Mendoza, however, was alert and caught the ball high under the crossbar.
That was the last Kjær was allowed to do before being replaced by Andreas Smed three minutes later, but again he could relax on the bench with a goal to his name.
In the 78th minute, FC Helsingør then put the icing on the cake. After good build-up play from Norouzi and substitute David Boysen, the ball was played into Lucas Haren, who cut across the box and shot. At the moment of the shot, Haren was clattered by a Vendsyssel defender. Anders Holst, who by the way had played a really good match at right back, stepped up to the ball. He fired a sublime free kick into the corner, with no chance for either wall or goalkeeper.
3-0 FC Helsingør
Vendsyssel did not lie down, however, and tried to mount one last push to get a goal back. Kevin Stuhr had to collect a number of dangerous crosses and corners on several occasions. But Vendsyssel failed to break down a FC Helsingør defence that was absolutely superb on the day, and after three minutes of added time the referee could blow the final whistle on another strong performance from FC Helsingør, who continued the strong start in 1. Division. The next match is away against Esbjerg. It is on Friday.
FCH: K. Ellegaard, P. Rejnhold, N. Hansen, J. Henriksen, A. Holst, E. Just (71’ D. Boysen), D. Nourouzi, F. Juul Christensen, Carl Lange (61’ L. Haren), J. Kjær (71 A. Smed), S. Czajkowski (89’ O. Kjærgaard)
