On another beautiful spring day with sunshine over Gladsaxe Stadium, AB Gladsaxe took on Esbjerg fB, who had come all the way from West Jutland for points. Esbjerg was supported throughout the match by many fans in attendance. AB Forever also did their part to create a festive atmosphere.
Compared to the match on Maundy Thursday against Skive, Alessio Alicino started instead of Daniel Warmbach and Adrien Koudelka replaced Gustav Overgaard Hansen in the starting line-up. Both teams played for three points and it was a match worth watching despite the 0-0 draw.
After just 4 minutes, Albert Nørager sends a good cross to Frederik Ellegaard, who heads on goal, but unfortunately the ball goes over. Shortly after, an Esbjerg player got a good shot off, but luckily the crossbar was in the way. Emil Wass again in this match sent his fantastic shot with direction directly towards the corner. However, Esbjerg’s goalkeeper managed to stretch far enough to get a hand on it. Christoffer Thrane also had good attempts, but no goals were scored.
Former AB player Emil Holten did his bit to create a disturbance in AB’s field. However, he didn’t get any big, dangerous finishes. After about 10 minutes of play in the second half, Esbjerg got a conversion and played quickly towards AB’s goal. It turned into a big missed chance.
After a corner kick for AB, Rasmus Møller comes highest, but unfortunately misses. Silas Trier Madsen receives his second yellow card in the 65th minute and has to go to the dressing room. AB has to play with 10 men and stabilizes the midfield with the quick substitution of Daniel Warmbach. AB fights well and intensely, but no goals are scored. Esbjerg fB naturally creates more chances after AB becomes a man down. However, Esbjerg never capitalizes on the advantage.
AB once again put up an exemplary fight and took the one point. Head coach Patrick Birch Braune said after the match: “A very, very close match with great chances at both ends. I think we solved a lot of things really well. We need to be more sharp defensively and a bit more organized. We give too many things away. But I think we showed a great attitude today. I just have to say that the attitude and morale of this team is top notch. So much adversity today and a very questionable red card that doesn’t follow the line that has been laid in the match. The adversity that you sometimes have, it’s a strength to be able to stand through it and still be able to show quality. I think we showed that today. So kudos to the boys for the huge fight and morale they showed, but it’s disappointing that we didn’t get three points. We’ll soon deserve it.”
After the match, Albert Nørager, who took over the captain’s armband after Silas Trier Madsen’s sending off, said: “The way the match went and we had a man sent off, we should be fairly satisfied with 0-0. But I think we created a lot of chances, especially in the first half, and we could have gone into the break with a lead. It’s a shame that we drew again due to the way the match developed. But huge credit to the boys, who all fought like crazy. We’ll take that into the playoffs, so there are more victories waiting for us.”
Starting lineup with substitutions and substitutions:
25 Tobias Brogaard (goal)
2 Rasmus Møller
5 Adrien Koudelka
7 Frederik Ellegaard goes out and 28 Emiliano Gomez comes on
8 Emil Wass
11 Oliver Angus
17 Christoffer Thrane goes out and 6 Daniel Warmbach comes on
19 Albert Nørager
21 Alessio Alicino goes off and 15 Søren Ilsøe comes on 22
Silas Trier Madsen walks out
30 Marcus Mustac Gudmann
Now it’s time for the playoffs, which start on Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 13.00 at Gladsaxe Stadium. The opponent will be announced on Wednesday when the program is set.
