Viborg proved too strong at home, and FC Helsingør had to accept a 3-0 defeat in central Jutland on Friday evening. FC Helsingør were fine in the first half, but a lightning goal at the start of the 2. half was more than Morten Eskesen's troops could recover from.
From the first minute, Viborg tried to apply high pressure, and that led to an – fortunately harmless – corner after just 45 seconds. FC Helsingør then gradually moved the game further up the pitch, where they were better able to look for sending Jeppe Kjær or Sebastian Czajkowski in behind, which came close a couple of times in the first ten minutes. Viborg, however, defended well and shut things down.
Just as we passed the ten-minute mark, Viborg won a corner. Former FCH profile Mads Aaquist took it, and he played a good ball right onto the forehead of a Viborg player centrally. But Kevin Stuhr got a hand to the header with a fantastic reflex save.
After 11 minutes of play, FC Helsingør got the ball in the net. Sebastian Czajkowski played a through ball from midfield to Jeppe Kjær running in behind. It looked as though Jeppe was level with his two markers when he received the ball, and he cheekily chipped it over Viborg goalkeeper Gunnarsson. But the linesman raised the flag for a hairline offside.
Instead it was Viborg who got on the scoreboard in the next sequence of play. Viborg had the ball in midfield, and then Mads Aaquist saw that Magnus Kaastrup had got completely free on the left side of FCH's box. He found Kaastrup with a neat pass, and the winger curled the ball into the far corner, with little chance for Kevin Stuhr in goal.
1-0 Viborg FF
FC Helsingør tried to inject a bit more pace into the game over the next ten minutes, while Viborg were naturally content to sit a bit deeper. FCH, however, found it difficult to get through Viborg's lines, and there were no major chances for either team in this phase.
After 27 minutes, Jeppe Kjær intercepted a ball in midfield and was close to breaking through with a clever one-two with Czajkowski. Viborg's defense, however, got back and blocked things, and eventually the ball ended up with David Boysen on the left side. Boysen took a couple of touches inside the pitch and shot from just outside the box. The ball, however, went a fair bit over the goal.
After half an hour, Jeppe Kjær got through the middle again. Twice he was pulled down, and twice he carried on with the ball, until he finally had to give up. The referee blew for the free kick, and Jeppe stepped up himself. He did not quite get enough pace on his shot, and Gunnarsson was able to gather it right out by the post.
After 35 minutes, David Boysen kicked at thin air when he tried to play the ball forward, which was taken away from him at the last second. Boysen went to the ground and had to be substituted with what looked like a hamstring injury. Carl Lange came on in his place.
In the 40th minute, Jeppe Kjær, with his back to goal, sent a ball out to Lange on the edge and turned himself to run toward goal. Lange beat his man on the edge and sent a good ball centrally to Jeppe Kjær, but in the final second a Viborg defender got in front of Jeppe and prevented a goal for FC Helsingør.
On the edge of stoppage time, Sebastian Czajkowski got a huge chance to bring Helsingør level. Lucas Haren found Philip Rejnhold on the edge. Rejnhold ran deep and found Haren again. Haren reached the byline and sent a ball into the box, where Viborg's defense could not get the ball away. Instead it dropped to the feet of Czajkowski, who tried to turn it past the two defenders between him and the goal. But he put far too much power on the shot, which went a good way over the goal.
So FC Helsingør had to go into the dressing room trailing 1-0, but with the feeling that they could certainly have been competitive against the league leaders.
But the second half began with a cold bucket of water over the visitors' heads. Viborg won a couple of aerial duels centrally, and eventually a ball was played forward to Sebastian Grønnning, who was lying in almost exactly the same position where Jeppe Kjær had been ruled offside in the first half. This time the referee's flag stayed down, and Grønnning could chip the ball over an advancing Kevin Stuhr just two minutes into the second half. The offside gods were most definitely not with FCH this Friday.
2-0 Viborg FF
The goal fired up the home team, and FC Helsingør had their work cut out defending in this phase of the match. Long balls forward were repelled by Viborg's defense, and Viborg were successful in breaking up FC Helsingør's passing game with physical play. Just before the clock reached an hour, the next big chance came. Franz Putros on the left wing found Tobias Bech in FCH's box with a sharp pass, and Bech sent a sly shot toward the far corner, but it went just over the angle.
We had to wait until the 71th minute before FC Helsingør could shoot on goal again. Substitute Callum McCowatt got the ball centrally and took a touch inside the pitch. No other FCH players had made it into the box, so McCowatt took the shot from some distance out. The ball was touched by a Viborg player and caused Gunnarsson some problems in goal, but eventually the Viborg goalkeeper could get down over the ball and claim it.
FC Helsingør tried and tried to increase the pace of the game and send a man through in behind, but Viborg closed completely down. Instead it was the home team who struck the decisive blow in the end. In the 87th minute, Jeff Mensah sent the ball out to Franz Putros on the left side. He delivered a cross into the box first time, where Jacob Bonde rose highest of all and headed the ball hard down and past Kevin Stuhr.
3-0 Viborg FF
Then Viborg could settle back and calmly defend their lead until the referee blew for full time after four minutes of stoppage time. One of those matches that simply has to be put behind you as quickly as possible. FCH's next task is at home against Hobro. It is on Thursday at 18.00
FCH: K. Ellegaard, F. Bay (’67 B. Onkony), N. Hansen, J. Henriksen (’86 O. Kjærgaard), P. Rejnhold, Boysen (’36 C. Lange), F. Juul Christensen, D. Norouzi, L. Haren (’67 C. McCowatt), S. Czajkowski, J. Kjær (’86 Berqvist)
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
