AB Gladsaxe played today in front of 460 spectators in a 0-0 draw against Skive IK at Hancock Arena in Skive. It was another game where AB could have won if they had taken advantage of the big chances and the predominance in the game. When that didn’t happen, Skive could also have scored on one of their chances, and thus might have won the match. It’s very unfortunate that it didn’t get three points, but a point on a very difficult away field is also worth taking away.
In relation to last week’s starting line-up, Søren Ilsøe replaced the quarantined Darren Sidoel, and Steven Simpson replaced Christian Wagner, who took a place on the bench.
AB thus started with Albert Gaub-Jacobsen in goal. In front of him was a four-man defense with Pachanga Kristensen and Adrien Koudelka in the middle, and on the left defensive side was Rasmus Brodersen, and on the right defensive side was Mikkel Nielsen. The central midfield consisted of Ægir Jarl Jonasson and Søren Ilsøe, and in the attacking midfield was AGúst Hlynsson. On the two sides lay O’Vonte Mullings and Steven Simpson, and at the top was Marco Ramkilde.
During the 2nd half, Christian Wagner, Frederik Lindgaard, Yushi Yamaya and Daniel A. Pedersen came on the field and replaced Mikkel Nielsen, Steven Simpson, Marco Ramkilde and Søren Ilsøe.
It was clear from the start of the match that AB had done his homework and had control of Skive. The defense was good, and especially Pachanga Kristensen got the decorations off the 2nd division’s top scorer, Martin Huldahl, who did not get any real chances. Mikkel Nielsen on the right side played a really good game with good defensive play, came quickly forward and had good crosses.
AB again played a lot more around the pitch in this game, and it worked fine. Even though Skive came to conversions, most times the defense played the ball away, or Albert Gaub-Jacobsen took care of the finishes that came.
The midfield distributed the balls well and often out on the edges, and it several times interrupted Skive’s conversions. In terms of attack, AB played the ball forward in Skive’s half of the field, and the two fast players in O’Vonte Mullings and Stev a Simpson challenged on the edges. At times, there were also long balls from AB’s side – not least because of the nature of the pitch.
This gave difficult conditions for Marco Ramkilde in the attack, as Skive’s defense stood solid, and each time marked him closely. He worked well and had a few attempts, and one of them ended up close to the goal. A Gúst Hlynsson Got a prick for a riposte, but unfortunately there was not enough power for the ball to reach the goal, but was shot away on the goal line. O’Vonte Mullings also had a shot that rolled on the goal line before it was also kicked away.
Captain Søren Ilsøe thought after the game that the game plan was kept throughout the game.
“It’s a mixed feeling we’re left with. We feel it could have gone either way – both teams could have gotten the three points. On a good day, we score three goals, but today they save two of our chances on the goal line.
They also have their chances, so it could have gone either way. In the first half we gave them a couple of chances, but I think we dominated the game and they just lay there waiting to run away and create changes. In general, we have a good handle on them, except when we make some individual mistakes, then they get some chances out of it.
It’s a bit annoying to say, but I think it’s an approved game where it could have been 3-0 to us. The coaching staff had made a perfect game plan, where they had read Skive just right. We also executed our gameplan to the fullest, so we should have taken the three points on that basis as well. There is a lot of good work we can build on, so we must continue to believe in it,” Søren Ilsøe concludes.
Head coach Joey Gudjonsson was annoyed and disappointed that they did not manage to take home the three points.
“It’s clear that we’re disappointed today, because we had the opportunity to win. It was again a solid defensive effort against a team that had two good attackers and played direct play with long balls. The pitch was definitely not good for football, so it was really difficult to play beautiful football today.
But we did our part to stop them in their attempt to create chances. Especially in the 2nd half, we had the chances to score at least two goals, so we could close the game. As I have said before, things are not going our way at the moment. We must continue to have a positive approach and do the things that work well for us – then it must soon be our turn,” concludes Joey Gudjonsson.
The next match will be played on Sunday 3 November at 13:00, when Næstved will welcome in MTM Service Park in Næstved.
