A Point Away at Skive

AB Gladsaxe visited Hancock Arena in Skive today on Maundy Thursday, where Skive IK were the hosts.

AB’s winning streak was snapped after six straight victories, as the match ended the way it began: 0-0.

Skive IK started the match best, and AB struggled to get a grip on it. The AB players worked extremely hard and grew more and more into the game. That meant AB had the upper hand in play for the rest of the first half. The same pattern continued in the second half, where AB pinned Skive IK back, but a deep-lying and brilliantly battling Skive IK kept AB from turning their dominance into goals.

AB’s lineup
Compared to the most recent match against FC Roskilde, there were four changes.

Tobias Damtoft was suspended and was replaced by Adrien Koudelka at right back. Marco Vesterholm returned after serving his suspension and took the midfield spot from Alfred Horup.

Travian Sousa started on the bench, and Mikkel Brund played left back. Noah Ibsen started in central defence alongside Marc Dal Hende. Up front, Milan Silva Rasmussen started in place of Casper Grening.

The starting XI was as follows
In goal: Adam Ingi Benediktsson; right back: Adrien Koudelka; centre backs: Noah Ibsen and Marc Dal Hende (captain); left back: Mikkel Brund; midfield: Marco Vesterholm and Søren Ilsøe. On the left wing: Jonathan Mathys, and on the right wing: O’Vonte Mullings. Up front: Tobias Hageltorn and Milan Silva Rasmussen.

Play and highlights
For today’s match, AB lined up with a slightly different back line: Adrien Koudelka at right back, Mikkel Brund at left back, and Noah Ibsen and Marc Dal Hende in central defence. It was a defensive unit that needed a little time to get used to each other, but after that they were solid for the rest of the match, despite first-half bookings for both Noah Ibsen and Mikkel Brund. Those weren’t the only bookings in the match, as a total of 10 were shown, but it still wasn’t a particularly hard-fought game.
Skive got off to a good start, creating a great chance for an early opener after just three minutes. One of Skive’s counter-attacks ended with a really good shot, but as always AB goalkeeper Adam Ingi Benediktsson was ready with an excellent save. Skive won a corner, but nothing came of it. For the first 10 minutes, play was exclusively in the middle of the pitch.

After 15 minutes, AB got on the ball, and O’Vonte Mullings moved out to the right wing and delivered a cross into the box, but the finish in the area wasn’t accurate enough.
From the left, Mikkel Brund sent a good cross into the box, but Skive’s defence cleared the ball well away. Late in the half, Mikkel Brund played a long pass to O’Vonte Mullings, who dribbled across the face of goal, but his finish went over. The last action of the half fell to Marco Vesterholm, who met a good cross from Tobias Hageltorn, but again the ball went wide. It was an even first half with a slight edge to AB, but without any really big chances for either side.

AB set the tone from the start of the second half and took control with good play and quick combinations. Tobias Hageltorn was brought down after a good move, and Jonathan Mathys took the free kick a few metres outside the box. Unfortunately, the free kick hit Skive’s wall.
The first substitutions came after 63 minutes. Alfred Horup took Søren Ilsøe’s place in midfield, Casper Grening replaced Milan Silva Rasmussen up front, and Marco Ramkilde came on for Tobias Hageltorn in attack—nice to see Marco Ramkilde back after a long injury spell.
After 65 minutes, AB had a huge chance following a fine build-up, but the finish went wide. A few minutes later, Marco Ramkilde got off a good shot, but unfortunately the ball hit the side netting.
Marco Ramkilde dribbled through Skive’s defence with tight touches and was brought down in the box. From the stands it looked like a penalty, but referee Mikkel Thomsen kept his whistle silent. Instead, he booked Marco Ramkilde for diving.
After 81 minutes, Travian Sousa and Marcus Immersen came on, replacing Mikkel Brund at left back and Jonathan Mathys on the left wing. With seven minutes left of normal time, Skive won a corner that was delivered perfectly into the box and the finish was close, but the ball went wide.

The last action of the match came from Marco Ramkilde, who rose highest at a corner, but once again the ball didn’t go in. The match therefore ended 0-0.

Captain Marc Dal Hende felt it was a good point: “It’s definitely a tough away ground here in Skive. I think the first half is even. Especially, I think Skive start best, and I actually think they’re on top in the first 20 minutes. We struggle a bit with our press, but after that, I think it’s AB all the way in the first half.
In the second half, I think we play really well. It was one of those days when the ball just wouldn’t go in—we were missing that final touch. They defended tooth and nail and managed to come away with a point. That’s football sometimes. We shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it. I think we did everything we could, and I think we dealt well with the transitions they had. We also defend their set pieces really well.” It was one of those days where you have to settle for 0-0, and that happens sometimes—but we’ll be ready again on Monday.

The teams are good, and if you’re not switched on all the time, it gets exposed. We made a few changes to the team today, but we have such a strong squad that no matter who plays, we want to be dominant—and I think we were today as well. Skive did what they could, and respect for that. Sometimes it’s hard to play against a team that sits that deep. They did it well, and we were just missing that final sharpness,” Marc Dal Hende concludes.

Head coach Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson called for a penalty: “It was a different kind of game today. The first half was even. At times we lost our shape a bit defensively because we communicated wrongly. We created some really good chances in the first half, and we should have scored then.
In the second half the game changed a bit, we were calmer, and we took control of the match. In my opinion we should have had a penalty, but it wasn’t given. We should have scored a couple of goals. Maybe we took it a bit for granted that we could beat everyone. But every match we win is tough and requires a lot of work in the build-up to the game. We did everything right today, but we just didn’t score the one goal we needed. That’s football sometimes too.” I’m happy and very satisfied with the performance.

“Skive fought for their chance today, and every team does. It’s really tough, because everyone can and wants to beat each other. Every team has quality and everyone will fight for a win. In that sense, it’s a fantastic division we’re playing in,” Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson concludes.

The next match will be played on Monday, April 6, 2026 (Easter Monday) at 2:00 PM at Brøndby Stadion, 1964 Park (Pitch 2) against VSK Aarhus.