AB played today away from home and in strong winds against Brabrand. The match had been moved to the artificial turf pitch. The game ended 2-2 after AB fell behind 0-1 after 4 minutes, and after 13 minutes Brabrand took a 2-0 lead. Marc Garly Pedersen reduced the score after 24 minutes and Tim Freriks equalized to 2-2 after 65 minutes.
Compared to the match against Skive, there was a change of 5 places. In today’s starting line-up, Indy Groothuizen was on goal, Killian van Mil was back from injury, and Julius Lind, Hakim Sighaoui and Hørdur Askham started inside. They replaced Albert Gaub, Adrien Koudelka, Darren Sidoel, Layton Ndukwu and Pachanga Kristensen.
The starting line-up was thus:
Indy Groothuizen
Erik Lindell
Rasmus Brodersen
Daniel A. Pedersen
Killian van Mil
Christian Wagner
Tim Freriks
Mark Garly
Julius Lind
Hakim Sighaoui
Hard Askham
It was never a game worth seeing in the strong wind. Brabrand started the game with a strong tailwind and put energy and pressure on AB’s goal. A throw-in lands with Rasmus Juul, who scores to make it 1-0 after just 4 minutes. Brabrand continues to take advantage of the tailwind, and in the 13th minute they extend the lead to 2-0 on a throw-in into the box, where Michael Kjærgaard Pedersen a few passes later can head the ball into the goal. AB has a hard time creating the game during that period, but gradually gets the upper hand. A cross in the box goes right over the head of Tim Frerik’s, and the ball is close to sailing into the goal, but Brabrand’s goalkeeper Casper Vedel-Birch Andersen made a great save. Only a few minutes passed, and the battle for the ball in the box lands with Mark Garly, who shoots the ball into the goal and reduces to 1-2. Before the break, there were chances for Tim Freriks after lay-ups from Mark Garly and Killian van Mil.
With the wind at their backs in the 2nd half, AB dictates the game. Faster passes and more direct play provide opportunities. After 25 minutes, Rasmus Brodersen shoots a good cross to Tim Freriks, who in the box comes highest and can equalize to 2-2. Mark Garly played a good game, and came to several finishes, but Brabrand’s goalkeeper stood well. AB’s goal was guarded today by Indy Groothuizen, and he had a couple of fine saves. Mark Garly has a shot on the post at the end of the game, which could just as well have decided the game in AB’s favour.
After the game, head coach David Roufpanah said: “We fell behind 2-0. So it was not a good start for us. They get 2 goals from set pieces. We must then work on that basis. We try to play the way we want to and when we succeeded, we scored our first goal. We start playing too late in the way we want to play. It’s annoying. But the rest of the time it’s AB on 90% of the game, so it’s quite frustrating that we lose points on a bad start. We have a good period at the end of the 1st half and for large parts of the 2nd half. The end will be like a tennis match with half chances at both ends. It is deeply frustrating that we do not win such a match. We have to get better at playing against these types of teams, where we have problems winning games. Now we’re over halfway through the tournament, so we have to keep improving. In any case, it’s good that we don’t lose the games.”
Captain Daniel A. Pedersen followed up with these observations: “It was two different halves where we had a lot of headwinds in the 1st half. They are strong on set pieces and we were not sharp enough. I actually think we’ve been good at that during the season, but they scored on that today. I think we work our way back well, especially when we do the things that we train for, then we also get the chance. It’s annoying to concede two goals, because then we have to chase the whole game. We create enough chances to win this game. It’s unbelievable that some of our chances don’t go in.” The next match is on Saturday 28 October at 15 against Thisted FC away from home.
