AB Gladsaxe won Friday’s first match in the promotion round 5–1 against HIK at Gentofte Sportspark.
AB approached the match against HIK a bit differently than in previous games. AB sat deeper and pressed from there. HIK had the ball for much of the match, but AB put in a perfect defensive performance and didn’t give away many chances.

AB made it 1–0 after just 5 minutes through Jonathan Mathys, and Travian Sousa made it 2–0 after 24 minutes.
Marco Ramkilde scored for 3–0 as the clock passed 30 minutes, and 4 minutes later HIK’s Erouan Donavan Kafo Bagou scored to pull it back to 3–1, which was the score at half-time. In the second half, O’Vonte Mullings put AB 4–1 up after 77 minutes, and Milan Silva Rasmussen made it 5–1 in stoppage time. There were five different goalscorers, which says a lot about the strong squad AB have.

The build-up to the match wasn’t the best, as Casper Grening got injured in the final part of the warm-up. Jonathan Mathys replaced him from the start and took over the spot up front. Even though it was a comfortable win for AB, HIK were definitely in the game, and with some good combinations they worked their way up the pitch.

AB’s line-up
The coaching staff had made a few changes to today’s starting XI compared to the most recent match against VSK Aarhus. Tobias Lykkebak came into central midfield alongside Søren Ilsøe, and Marco Vesterholm started on the bench. Marco Ramkilde played up front alongside Jonathan Mathys. Milan Silva Rasmussen was deployed on the left wing. Tobias Hageltorn started on the right wing, and O´Vonte Mullings took a seat on the bench.

The starting XI then looked like this
In goal: Adam Ingi Benediktsson; right-back: Tobias Damtoft; centre-backs: Adrien Koudelka and Marc Dal Hende (captain); left-back: Travian Sousa; midfield: Tobias Lykkebak and Søren Ilsøe. Left wing: Milan Silva Rasmussen; right wing: Tobias Hageltorn. Up front: Jonathan Mathys and Marco Ramkilde.

Play and highlights
It took no more than 5 minutes before Jonathan Mathys made it 1–0 after a really good pass from Marco Ramkilde into the box between two defenders. AB had several attempts in the first 30 minutes. Søren Ilsøe and Marco Ramkilde both had good efforts, but they were blocked for corners that weren’t delivered accurately enough. Søren Ilsøe found Milan Silva Rasmussen on the left, where he ran down the line and sent in a good cross to Tobias Lykkebak, who finished just wide. After 15 minutes HIK had their first shot, but the ball went over the bar. After 24 minutes Travian Sousa took a chance and unleashed a thunderous long-range shot from just outside the box on the left. The ball took a deflection off a HIK player and looped over HIK goalkeeper Oliver Børner Thorup to make it 2–0. A minute later, Milan Silva Rasmussen took a free kick after a foul on Søren Ilsøe, and the ball ended up just over the crossbar.
HIK lost the ball in midfield, it was played forward to Marco Ramkilde, who from the right side smashed it into the roof of the net to make it 3–0 after 30 minutes. After 35 minutes, HIK’s Erouan Donavan Kafo Bagou met a cross from the right with a really good header to make it 3–1. Then HIK broke forward, and with good, precise passing a HIK player on the left got a big chance one-on-one with Adam Ingi Benediktsson, who fearlessly threw himself at the ball and caught it. Marco Ramkilde missed a big chance when, after a good pass from Milan Silva Rasmussen, he fired over the bar. At times HIK combined in tight areas and came close to breaking through AB’s defense.

At the start of the second half, Marco Ramkilde was replaced by Marco Vesterholm, who took over Tobias Lykkebak’s spot in central midfield. Milan Silva Rasmussen moved into a central attacking role. Jonathan Mathys was moved to the left wing and Tobias Lykkebak pushed further up the pitch. AB still had plenty of chances in the second half despite the 3–0 lead. A good corner routine ended with a shot into the side netting. Jeppe Gertsen came on and took over Tobias Damtoft’s position at right-back. O’Vonte Mullings came on and was placed on the right wing, with Tobias Hageltorn going to the bench. After 17 minutes of play, Jonathan Mathys was through on goal, but the finish didn’t result in a goal. Almost 10 minutes later O’Vonte Mullings burst forward and played it to Milan Silva Rasmussen, but again HIK’s goalkeeper was there with a save. Travian Sousa got past his marker on the left and delivered a powerful, accurate cross into the box, where O’Vonte Mullings got to the ball first and made it 4–1 after 77 minutes. Alfred Horup came on to replace Tobias Lykkebak. Emil Mygind came on to replace Jonathan Mathys on the left wing.
In stoppage time, Emil Mygind battled for the ball near the halfway line and played a perfect pass to Milan Silva Rasmussen, who slotted it into the far corner for the final score of 5–1.

Captain Marc Dal Hende felt they showed a new dimension in their play: “I think we started well, and you could see from their game plan that they expected us to press high from the beginning. Their goalkeeper has a good long kick that can be dangerous, but we came out a bit more measured than we normally do.


I think that suited us well. We were clinical on the counter, and we played a really strong 30 minutes, after which they pulled it back to 3–1 with a really fine goal. Of course, we need to go home and look at what went wrong on that goal.
After that we just played safely, because you can’t dominate for the whole match. The way we regroup straight away is strong. We go in at half-time and in the second half I think we just stand firm, and we know they have to push up and take a few risks. That creates good conditions for our strong attackers, and the players who came on showed quality. I don’t mind them having possession from time to time. On artificial pitches it can be difficult at times to apply pressure. The ball moves a bit quicker.
It’s fine to sit a bit deeper today. It just gives our quick attackers a bit more space to run into up front. I think it was great that we showed a new dimension today. It’s good to have more tools in the toolbox. I think it was another strong, solid performance,” Marc Dal Hende concluded.

Head coach Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson was pleased with the win and the five goals: “We played a good match. We were on our toes from the first second, and we scored with our first chance. We took control fairly early, and then we could manage them. We weren’t that happy with the way we played in the first half. We gave them a bit too much time, but in the second half we shut them down. We allowed them to come a little closer, but then we pushed them back. In the second half we built up from deeper positions. We tried to repel their attacks instead of allowing them to attack. We pushed our defence up a bit so we could build our play the way we wanted to. It was a big performance from the players and five goals – so it was a fantastic Friday night for us,” Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson concluded.

The next match will be played at Gladsaxe Stadium on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 1:00 PM.