A Good Point Against Hvidovre IF

AB Gladsaxe drew 1–1 with league leaders Hvidovre IF on Saturday evening at Gladsaxe Stadion in front of 1,311 spectators. The stage was set for a good match between two clubs that have enjoyed many competitive battles over the years, with both sets of supporters once again backing their teams loyally from the stands.

Marc Dal Hende returned to central defense after missing the match against Vendsyssel FF through injury, while Gabriel Noga started on the bench. Mikkel Clement came into the midfield in place of Marco Vesterholm, who was left out of the squad due to injury.

AB showed great character to fight their way to a point. Hvidovre IF dominated the first half and controlled the game, while AB struggled to establish their play and create clear chances.

Hvidovre took the lead after just four minutes when Louka Prip fired the ball into the top-left corner. AB improved significantly in the second half, saw much more of the ball and fought for every challenge.

The equalizer came in the 84th minute following an excellent inswinging corner from Tobias Lykkebak, which Hvidovre IF's Daniel Stenderup inadvertently glanced into his own net.

AB's Starting XI

Adam Benediktsson started in goal, with Tobias Damtoft at right back and Travian Sousa at left back. Aidan Liu partnered Marc Dal Hende in central defense, while Søren Ilsøe and Mikkel Clement lined up in midfield. Casper Grening played on the left wing, O'Vonte Mullings on the right, with Noah Engell and Milan Silva Rasmussen leading the line.

First Half

AB got off to a poor start. Following a corner into the box, Hvidovre worked the ball back outside the area, where Louka Prip unleashed an excellent shot over the AB defense and into the net to make it 1–0.

AB struggled to establish their game and retain possession. For the first 20 minutes, Hvidovre had control of almost everything, before dropping slightly deeper and looking to threaten on the counterattack. AB gradually grew into the game, but their attempts lacked quality and never seriously threatened the goal.

In the 33rd minute, AB were close to finding themselves in further trouble when Hvidovre's dangerous striker Donavan Bagou almost broke through. The AB defense managed to clear the ball, but unfortunately it fell straight to a Hvidovre player, who struck it decisively and fortunately hit the crossbar.

Hvidovre had another chance just two minutes later with a good effort that went narrowly wide of the post.

AB looked stressed and continued to struggle to establish their play. A throw-in from Travian Sousa was flicked on inside the box by Søren Ilsøe, but Hvidovre goalkeeper Filip Djukic was able to deal with the situation.

Second Half

AB came out strongly after the break and pushed Hvidovre further up the pitch. Hvidovre's normally dangerous Donavan Bagou was closely marked by Aidan Liu throughout the match and was given very little space.

However, in the 51st minute, Bagou managed to break through. This time, Travian Sousa tracked him down and won the ball inside the penalty area.

Hvidovre moved the ball quickly, switching play with cross-field passes and creating opportunities to shoot. AB also had their moments. Søren Ilsøe flicked the ball into the box for Travian Sousa, who had pushed forward, but the pass was just slightly too long.

At times, AB relied on long passes that often ended up with Hvidovre. In the 62nd minute, AB had a chance to equalize. Noah Engell received a long clearance and played the ball to Milan Silva Rasmussen, who took one touch around his defender before shooting, but Filip Djukic produced an excellent save.

With five minutes remaining in normal time, AB won a corner. Tobias Lykkebak delivered a precise ball into the box, where Daniel Stenderup put the ball into his own net to make it 1–1.

In stoppage time, Jonathan Mathys had the opportunity to win the match for AB, but was unable to convert, and the game ended 1–1.

Substitutions

• 65' Casper Grening off, Jonathan Mathys on
• 65' Mikkel Clement off, Tobias Lykkebak on
• 65' Travian Sousa off, Mikkel Brund on
• 83' Noah Engell off, Saliou Diop on
• 88' Milan Silva Rasmussen off, Marcus Immersen on

Captain Marc Dal Hende felt that, all things considered, it was a good point:

“A 1–1 draw is a good result, but when we get such a big chance at the end, with a player as clinical as Mathys, for a moment you start thinking: are we going to take the whole thing?

But after the first half, we deserved the biggest telling-off in the world at halftime. We were really poor and Hvidovre were ahead of us in every aspect.

As AB, we want to play with a DNA where we are forward-thinking, win our second balls, win our duels and are aggressive. I felt that we were on the back foot throughout the entire first half. Hvidovre played very well, but I also don't think we were good enough.

At halftime, we agreed that we had to change things, push higher and press them. It became an open second half, which must have been entertaining to watch. I think we got a much better grip on the game, and towards the end, I felt that we were the team in control.

But overall, it's a really good point and one I'm very happy with. Hvidovre are a good team, so it was an entertaining match. We want to keep moving forward, and we earned a good point today, which we have to be satisfied with.

The first half wasn't good enough, and we have to go home and look at what went wrong and take a hard look at ourselves. That's not the way we want to play. Hvidovre had done their homework and were very good at switching the play.

On the other hand, we can take a lot from the second half, where we showed the mentality that this team has, and I'm happy about that.”

Head coach Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson said AB allowed Hvidovre to win every battle:

“We are disappointed with our first half. We didn't fight hard enough, and we didn't give the level of fight that we have to give. We lacked energy and basically threw 45 minutes out the window.

In the second half, we dominated. The players need to understand that they have to perform at their best, and when they do, they are often the better team. They have to be ready to battle and fight for every single ball. Hvidovre did that today, and they got a point out of it because we didn't fight in the first half. We need to figure out why that happens. The players are normally very competitive and have a lot of quality, but it didn't happen today. It was very disappointing.

We weren't ready in the press, and we didn't win either the first or second balls. We let them win everything. Of course, it's always better to get one point than to lose all three, but we created good chances in the second half where we could have scored — but we didn't.”

AB's next match is in the Betano Cup, away to Brønshøj at Tingbjerg Idrætspark on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 6:30 PM.

The next Betinia Liga match will be played away against Kolding on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at 1:00 PM, at Autocentralen Park (Kolding Stadion).