AB Gladsaxe won 2-1 against Aarhus Fremad on Saturday at the very difficult away ground for AB, Riisvangen Stadion. AB was even behind 1-0 after the first 45 minutes on a goal by Aarhus Fremad’s Elias Caspersen Egerton. With two goals in the second half – where the first was scored by Adrien Koudelka and just before the final whistle Tobias Hageltorn – AB turned it all on its head and won the game after a terrific effort.

The coaching staff had changed the starting line-up for the game compared to last Sunday’s game in Skive.

Rasmus Brodersen was back at left back, and Pachanga Kristensen started on the bench. Ægir Jarl Jonasson also took a place on the bench, while Agust Hlynsson moved from midfield up behind Noah Engell in the attack. That made room for Mikkel Brund in midfield. On the left wing, Frederik Lindgaard started instead of Casper Grening.

AB’s starting line-up was Nicholas Christoffersen in goal, in central defence Noah Ibsen and Adrien Koudelka and on the right side of defence was Steven Simpson and on the left side Rasmus Brodersen. In the central midfield were Søren Ilsøe (C) and Mikkel Brund. On the wings were O’Vonte Mullings and Frederik Lindgaard. At the top, Agust Hlynsson played behind Noah Engell.

It was expected that AB would face a highly motivated and fired up Aarhus Fremad team. They had the chance to move up before the game, but AB wanted it differently.

AB put a lot of energy and commitment from the start of the match. Within the first two minutes, AB had several chances. First, when Mikkel Brund threw one of his long throw-ins all the way into the box. Subsequently, Søren Ilsøe took the chance on a good long shot. The first quarter of the game dominated AB with chances for Noah Engell and Frederik Lindegaard. O’Vonte Mullings also repeatedly came to the back line and sent the ball into the box.

AB played really well, pressed high and sat on the game. Aarhus Fremad was, as previously experienced, very dangerous on transitions, which they executed at a high pace. They consistently took throw-ins very quickly, and that gave openings. A good finish after a throw-in was done by AB’s goalkeeper Nicholas Christoffersen, who had a good game, where he had several good interventions.

AB’s back line stood well, where Mikkel Brund fell down and supported the defence. Still, there was a letdown, where Aarhus Fremad’s Mathias Nordstedgaard Kubel was able to dribble his way past three AB players and finish with a really good shot. But the ball went over the goal.

Just three minutes later, Aarhus Fremad’s Elias Caspersen intercepted the ball in the middle and ran from AB’s back players and scored to make it 1-0 without a chance for Nicholas Christoffersen in AB’s goal.

AB went to the break trailing 1-0, and it was not entirely deserved.

From the start of the 2nd half, Casper Grening came on the field and replaced Frederik Lindgaard. AB quickly got a good opportunity, but the attempt was averted on the line. Aarhus Fremad was in the box, but Adrien Koudelka was averted for a corner kick.

Aarhus Fremad had several finishes, but it was never really dangerous. Søren Ilsøe and Agust Hlynsson both had opportunities for long shots, but the finishes ended up over the goal.

After a quarter of an hour of play, Noah Engel finished, but the ball was blocked for a corner kick. Casper Grening went to the corner and kicked a perfect corner kick, and in the box, Adrien Koudelka came highest up and was able to head the ball into the goal to equalize 1-1.

Aarhus Fremad got a great chance to score after a free kick, but AB’s goalkeeper threw himself down in the end and managed to avert the attempt. AB made a substitution after 70 minutes, with Tobias Hageltorn replacing Noah Engell, and Yushi Yamaya replacing O’Vonte Mullings. Six minutes later, Ægir Jarl Jonasson replaced Mikkel Brund.

Tobias Hageltorn was strong and pressured Aarhus Fremad’s play, but also missed a great chance, where he got a free shot, but finished on the goalkeeper.

When the game went into overtime, AB got a conversion, where Rasmus Brodersen got past a midfielder, and from the back line he put the ball in front of goal. Here, Tobias Hageltorn followed up and was able to score to make it 2-1.

The rest of the time AB fought the result home!

Søren Ilsøe: The team has become mentally stronger

“We really believed in it today. We also felt that no one should be able to move up in front of our eyes.
We had to attack for ninety minutes, and we had to aim to win. You could clearly see this in all eleven who started inside, and also in those who came in. We had to play like it was a game that had a huge impact on us.

At half-time, we talk about how we play really well, and we play our way to many big chances – but we are behind by one. It was a small mistake where we lose focus and that is enough for them to get a goal. The same happened against Næstved, where we are also totally dominant, and then they score out of nowhere.

Before we went on the pitch for the second half, we agreed to stay focused for the next 50 minutes and give it everything on the pitch – and it went very well.

We made sure they didn’t get too many chances. They probably have two big chances where they can score goals, but otherwise we kept them away. We scored two goals, and that’s really good on one of the most difficult away pitches in the 2nd division.

We have become mentally much stronger when we fall behind and pressure comes on us. We believe so much in our concept and style of play that the opponents cannot keep us away from their goal for an entire match”, says Søren Ilsøe.

Joey Gudjonsson: Happy with the players’ focus

“I can’t be happier with the players “efforts than I am today. The players had 99.9% focus throughout the match. It was the players” efforts that gave the victory today – it was unbelievable.

I wasn’t happy when Aarhus had a free kick in the 1st half, where they played to Kubel, he turned around and had a really good finish where he could have scored.

I’m happy about a lot of things in the game. It’s a really good victory. I mean, we come here to a stadium with a lot of spectators and play against the best team in the division. We dominated them, we were strong man for man, and so we beat them,” says head coach Joey Gudjonsson.

Next match will be played on Friday 30 May 2025 at 19:00 against Fremad Amager at Gladsaxe Stadion.