Gladsaxe Stadium looked great in the spring sunshine for the spring home opener. Almost 600 spectators had found their way to the stadium, so the atmosphere was great. Several AB Forever fans were back in Section E, and the ball boys from Buddinge and Stengård Skole were also there. It was two top teams crossing swords, and AB Gladsaxe was looking for revenge after Kolding IF won 1-0 at Kolding Stadium in September.
In the starting lineup, Frederik Ellegaard returned from suspension and replaced Asger Højmark-Jensen. Silas Trier Madsen replaced Daniel Warmbach, and Rasmus Møller replaced Adrien Koudelka compared to the match against B.93.
The match started with a lot of play between the boxes, and it was AB who converted most of the play into finishes. After 6 minutes Frederik Ellegaard passed from the box back to Alessio Alicino, who sent a shot, but unfortunately over the goal. KIF received a number of corner kicks, and one of them was sent in to Mikkel Jespersen, who put a foot on the center of the goal for 0-1.
AB struggled throughout the match with Kolding IF’s standard situations. Then Emil Wass took action and before a minute had passed, he sent a world-class shot into the top corner to equalize 1-1. After 17 minutes, Emil Wass had two chances to score, but both were parried by the defense. Kolding were most dangerous on set pieces and conversions. After another corner kick, KIF’s Kouassi Yao was completely free and could easily head the ball into the goal for 1-2. Shortly after, Tobias Brogaard didn’t quite have control of the ball after a corner kick, and Sebastian Denius had the opportunity to shoot the ball into the goal to give KIF a 1-3 lead.
It took a huge comeback for AB to get a point out of the match today. And it happened, and it could also have been a victory. AB showed good morale and put heavy pressure on KIF’s defense. Marcus Gudmann got a good shot off, but the defense saved it for a corner, which was sent into the box to Christoffer Thrane, who reduced the score to 2-3. Just 5 minutes later, Christoffer Thrane scored the equalizer. 3-3 was the final score, and it could have ended with a victory when Albert Nørager sent the ball into the goal in injury time, but unfortunately it was ruled offside.
The squad voted Christoffer Thrane as player of the match.
Head coach Patrick Birch Braune said after the match: “The first half hour we play really well. But at the end of the first half we fall a bit and we have to start to correct that.
We suffer on their set pieces and that wasn’t good enough. Default situations are part of football and we need to be better at defending against them. In the rest of the phases of the game, I think we controlled the game. We were frustrated at halftime, but agreed that we could score 2-3 goals in the second half. We then went out and made a fantastic comeback, but we need to be sharper on set pieces. We have to play Kolding twice more this season. We played on our terms on a difficult pitch, so credit to the boys for playing a good game of football.”
Captain Silas Trier Madsen says: “There are a lot of positive things to take away from the match. I think we played a really good game on the ball. We dominated a lot and we were the ones who set the game today. Of course, we need to be better at the standard situations. Kolding were far too dangerous and they poured everything into the box. We need to defend better there. It shows great character that we came back from 1-3 to 3-3 and almost got to 4-3. It shows how strong a group we have. It’s also what we say to each other in the dressing room when we’re down by two: “We can easily go out and turn this game around”. That’s what we did, and it’s really well done. So hopefully we’ll get three points on Thursday.”
AB will play their next match away on Maundy Thursday, April 6 at 13:00 against Skive. The last game of the playoffs will be played at Gladsaxe Stadium on Easter Sunday at 14:00 against Esbjerg.
The starting lineup with substitutions and substitutions:
25 Tobias Brogaard (goal)
2 Rasmus Møller
3 Gustav Overgaard Hansen out and 5 Adrien Koudelka in
7 Frederik Ellegaard out and 28 Emiliano Gomez in
8 Emil Wass
11 Oliver Angus
17 Christoffer Thrane out and 37 Asger Højmark-Jensen in
19 Albert Nørager
21 Alessio Alicino
22 Silas Trier Madsen out and 6 Daniel Warmbach in
30 Marcus Mustac Gudmann
Not on the field:
16 Albert Gaub-Jakobsen (goal)
20 Marcus Hørbye
23 Marcelo Randolf
