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Over the course of the match, things didn’t go AB’s way today. A misplaced back pass, a missed penalty and a red card just before half-time. AB lost the match 1–0 to a goal from Hillerød Fodbold’s Poul Kallsberg after 10 minutes.
The match was attended by 660 spectators.
AB’s Line-Up
The coaching staff made one change to the team that faced Hillerød Fodbold compared with last Saturday’s match against AaB. Tobias Hageltorn started on the left wing, with Jonathan Mathys starting on the bench.
AB’s starting line-up saw Adam Benediktsson in goal, Tobias Damtoft at right-back and William Warrer at left-back. Aidan Liu partnered Gabriel Noga in central defence, while Søren Ilsøe (captain) and Marco Vesterholm played in midfield. Tobias Hageltorn started on the left wing, O’Vonte Mullings on the right, with Milan Silva Rasmussen and Saliou Diop up front.
With Marcus Bobjerg injured ahead of today’s match, U19 goalkeeper Carl-Emil Borglykke stepped in as the backup goalkeeper.
The match also saw the debut of Jermain Fernandes. Marco Ramkilde returned to the squad after a lengthy injury layoff, but did not make it onto the pitch.
First Half
It started promisingly enough. AB got off to a good start, pressed high up the pitch and quickly took control of the game.
After just four minutes, AB created a transition in midfield, with O’Vonte Mullings playing Tobias Hageltorn, who delivered a cross. Saliou Diop got on the end of it, but his shot went over the bar.
Eight minutes into the match, a misplaced back pass from Saliou Diop was intercepted by a Hillerød player. He played the ball on to Jakob Sigurdsson, who found Poul Kallsberg, and he made it 1–0.
AB continued to play well and created chances, but the finishing wasn’t quite there. Once again, O’Vonte Mullings was instrumental in driving the ball forward and finding Saliou Diop, who moved into the box before being brought down. The referee awarded a penalty.
Milan Silva Rasmussen stepped up, but Andreas Ditmar went the right way and kept the ball out. Tobias Hageltorn, Tobias Damtoft, Søren Ilsøe and Marco Vesterholm all had good efforts on goal, but none of them found the back of the net.
After 41 minutes, things nearly went badly wrong for AB when a very good cross from Hillerød was followed by a dangerous finish, forcing Adam Benediktsson into a world-class save. The follow-up effort then struck the post. A corner from Søren Ilsøe gave Gabriel Noga an opportunity with a good header, but the ball went over the bar.
Shortly afterwards, Gabriel Noga went in a little too aggressively on one of Hillerød’s forwards. Having already been booked, he received a second yellow card, resulting in a red card, and AB were forced to play the entire second half with 10 men. Before half-time, Hillerød had a dangerous free kick, but the ball went just over the bar.
Second Half
With a man down, AB switched to a back three at the start of the second half. AB continued with great energy and took control of the game despite being down to 10 men. Just six minutes into the half, Milan Silva Rasmussen hit the post.
Hillerød had a few efforts, but they failed to create any major chances. After 35 minutes, Milan Silva Rasmussen was involved again, but his otherwise good shot went over the bar.
Adrien Koudelka came on after 65 minutes, taking over on the left side of the defense from William Warrer. After 70 minutes, Casper Grening came on on the left wing, replacing Tobias Hageltorn. Mikkel Clement replaced a hard-working Søren Ilsøe in midfield.
Hillerød created a transition after AB lost the ball in midfield, but O’Vonte Mullings and Adrien Koudelka chased down the Hillerød player and managed to deal with the situation before he could get a shot away.
With six minutes of normal time remaining, Alfred Horup came on for Milan Silva Rasmussen. At the same time, Jermain Fernandes made his debut, replacing Tobias Damtoft. Fernandes moved onto the right wing, while O’Vonte Mullings was moved into a central attacking position.
Saliou Diop quickly found Jermain Fernandes, who got a shot away, but the ball was blocked and went out for a throw-in. In stoppage time, Adrien Koudelka delivered a dangerous ball to Jermain Fernandes, who had made a run completely free inside the box. However, he missed the ball, and the opportunity went begging.
In a match featuring several strong AB performances, Marco Vesterholm stood out most clearly thanks to his tremendous work rate.
AB captain Søren Ilsøe says there is still a long way to go: “We’re facing a bit of a headwind right now. The wind isn’t blowing our way at the moment. We’re creating our chances. The penalty is obviously the biggest one. We’re creating good opportunities, but we’re in a frustrating spell where the opposition get one chance and score from it. It was a silly situation where we didn’t communicate properly.
We played with a player down for the entire second half, but we completely dominated. We created some good opportunities and pressed them all over the pitch. So right now, it’s just one of those situations where everything is hitting the post instead of going in.
Sometimes you have to deal with adversity in football, so we just need to keep our heads up, stay optimistic and have the right attitude, because we’re going to win plenty of matches.
We’ve played 25% of the season and there’s 75% left, so if we start hanging our heads already, it’s far too early. I’m optimistic. Of course, it’s tough to lose three matches in a row, but there’s no point dwelling on it. We have three matches coming up in a short period of time, so we just need to get back on the horse, give it everything we’ve got — and it will come,” Søren Ilsøe concludes.
Assistant coach Benjamin Chor says the team needs to focus on the small details: “The first half is a chapter in itself because there are some decisive moments. We don’t solve those situations properly, and at this level, you get punished for that. We simply need to be sharper in the small details.
It’s about when we play the ball, where we put it, how we react and how we finish the situations. It wasn’t good enough in the first half. Of course, it was frustrating to miss a penalty when we had the opportunity, but that’s football. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t.
The red card obviously changes the match, but after the reaction the boys showed in the second half, I have more of a feeling that if we score, we would be going after a second goal rather than Hillerød being able to close out the match. It’s a huge credit to the boys that they really stepped up in the second half.
The most important thing for me is that we’re still creating the chances to win football matches, based on the circumstances on the day. That’s something we can be pleased with — but we can’t be pleased with the fact that we didn’t finish certain key situations better.
That’s where we need to improve, and we’ve talked about it many times. We have to keep working on the details rather than looking at the bigger picture. I think the bigger picture often looks really good, but we need to be more detail-oriented. We need to take pride in doing things as well as possible with the abilities we have in each individual situation,” Benjamin Chor concludes.
AB’s next match in the Betano Pokalen will be played on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, when AB host Sønderjyske Fodbold at 18:00 at Gladsaxe Stadion.
AB’s next Betinia Liga match will be played on Saturday, September 19, 2026, when AB host Esbjerg fB at 14:00 at Gladsaxe Stadion.
