AB Gladsaxe won an important victory on Friday evening and is definitely back on track. It was an impressive 4-0 victory over HIK at Gentofte Sportspark, and the match was in stark contrast to last week’s game against Roskilde.

In the first half, Jonathan Mathys scored to make it 1-0. In the second half, Marco Ramkilde scored to make it 2-0 and 3-0. The 4-0 goal was scored by Alfred Horup.

Assistant coach Fannar Gunnolfsson was again in charge of the troops in the absence of head coach Joey Gudjonsson, who was serving his last day of suspension.

AB’s Lineup

The coaching team had made some changes to the starting eleven compared to the match against FC Roskilde:
Frederik Lindgaard started at right back instead of Tobias Damtoft, who took over left back from Mikkel Brund, who took a place on the bench. Søren Ilsøe took over the central midfield position from Ægir Jarl Jónasson, who also took a place on the bench. The same happened with Marcus Immersen, and his place in attack was taken over by Marco Ramkilde.

The starting lineup was then: Adam Ingi Benediktsson in goal, Frederik Lindgaard on the right side of defense, Adrien Koudelka and Noah Ibsen in central defense, and Tobias Damtoft on the left side of defense. In central midfield were Marco Vesterholm and Søren Ilsøe (captain), with O’Vonte Mullings on the right wing and Jonathan Mathys on the left wing. Up front were Noah Engell and Marco Ramkilde.

Match Report

AB pressed forward from the start and increasingly dominated the game. HIK was, as predicted, dangerous on counterattacks. It was two technically strong teams that set the pace in the match. Both teams mostly started play from their own goal area. After 12 minutes, AB lost the ball in midfield and HIK’s striker accelerated and found himself alone with Adam Ingi Benediktsson, but under good pressure from Noah Ibsen, he shot the ball over the goal.

A good pass was sent to Jonathan Mathys, who took the run all the way to goal on the left wing and finished to make it 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.

HIK had good opportunities primarily through counterattacks and good combinations in front of AB’s goal. Sometimes HIK had chances but wasted them by either shooting wide of AB’s goal or because Adam Ingi Benediktsson stood as a solid last line of defense again today. After about half an hour, O’Vonte Mullings was sent through and with quick dribbling, he made it forward and could shoot – but Oliver Børner Torup dove down and saved the shot.

From the start of the second half, AB quickly got into the game and controlled play. After 7 minutes of play, Jonathan Mathys had quickly moved forward and got a shot off, but it was saved. The rebound went out to Marco Ramkilde, who had followed all the way up, and he could confidently score to increase the lead to 2-0.

Just a couple of minutes later, Noah Engell sent O’Vonte Mullings away with a beautiful pass. O’Vonte Mullings sprinted towards goal and drew the defense to him before playing it out to the right, where Marco Ramkilde came sprinting and scored to make it 3-0. Then HIK deflated, having played 3 matches in the last week, so fatigue had set in.

Then AB made changes: Two-goal scorer Marco Ramkilde, who played a really fine match, left the field and was replaced in attack by Marcus Immersen. Ægir Jarl Jónasson replaced Marco Vesterholm. AB continued with controlled and disciplined play, but unfortunately neither Noah Engell’s free kick nor Adrien Koudelka’s header were converted into goals.
After 69 minutes, Alfred Horup came on and replaced Noah Engell. Jonathan Mathys, who played a great match, played Alfred Horup to the edge of the penalty area. Alfred Horup dribbled into the box, he finished and could after 75 minutes increase AB’s lead to 4-0. After 85 minutes, Noah Poulsen replaced Jonathan Mathys, Noah Maale came on and replaced O’Vonte Mullings. The match ended 4-0 after AB had played a good game from start to the referee’s final whistle.

Captain Søren Ilsøe emphasized team spirit and cooperation as key factors: “I think the play in the first half is a bit more back and forth and HIK also gets some chances where we don’t communicate properly. They are incredibly good at counterattacks, so they got a sense that there was something to gain and get into the match. We quickly shut that down and went ahead 1-0.
After we came out for the second half, I don’t think they had anything at all. A first half where it was back and forth, but a second half where we completely dominated and the result shows that too.
In the last match, we had a collective off day where no one really could find their feet and Roskilde took advantage of that. Today there was just team spirit throughout the whole match, we cooperated, we communicated and we just did the basic things incredibly well – that’s how you win matches. We can play on all surfaces and you need to be able to do that because we face many different surfaces. We are the best team today on their home ground and we need to keep being that, no matter who we face,” concludes Søren Ilsøe.

Assistant coach Fannar Gunnolfsson praised the players for an excellent performance: “It was absolutely fantastic to get such a big victory. We started really well but lost a bit of control, and our pressing wasn’t good in the first half hour. After ten minutes in the second half, we found our footing and it turned into an incredible half. There was only one team on the pitch and, not to be greedy, but we should have scored at least one more goal. What brought us into the second half was our pressing, where we managed to force them into areas where they weren’t comfortable. We had the power and strength and dominated them from there until the end of the match. It was also really great to see Alfred Horup come in again and put in an excellent performance. He has a big impact on the game and scores a goal. He’s taking big steps forward and we’re really happy about that. We can now take this fantastic performance that the players delivered today with us further in the tournament, and we’ll continue working towards the next match against Fremad Amager,” concludes Fannar Gunnolfsson.

The next match will be played Friday, September 26 at 19:00 against Fremad Amager at Gladsaxe Stadium.