Never! A Lucky Gift for Horsens in the Goalmouth

This man had a very bad day at the office

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Monday 29 October 2012 at the CASA Arena
Result	AC Horsens 1 FC København 0
Competition	Danish Superliga (top tier)
Hopping	Last hop of this trip (the fifth) and number 491 on the lifetime list.
Pre-match preparation
An Autumnal morning walk around Himmelbjerget enjoying the solitude and the colours, and a quick afternoon stomp round Aarhus.  For the evening game, FC København will start as favourites since they are league leaders and I will have the Horsens sausages for my tea. Aarhus, in the middle of a street ... Madness
This match in one sentence
The league leaders failed to turn up, and although the goal was a gift, the win was well-deserved.
So what?
FCK still lead the league by three points, AC Horsens are seventh, and fourteen rounds of games have been completed.  The headline in the paper is "Kielstrup Sagde Tak" ... Kielstrup Says Thanks.
The drama unfolds
Table-toppers FCK hit the post with an early header but actually Horsens had the better of the early exchanges.  After 11 minutes André Bjerregaard and Jude Nworuh combined well and the latter's shot rolled to safety off the post.  Kim Christensen in the visiting goal had his final good moment of the evening a few seconds later as he blocked a Nworuh effort.  He then fluffed his handling at the ensuing corner but got away with it.  I took my scene-setter clip after 15 minutes and captured a fine tackle by Horsens' Thomas Kortegaard. Nothing much happened of note for a few minutes.  Horsens' approach play was pretty and you wouldn't have known that København were league leaders.  The only goal of the game was a gift.  Christensen, under no particular pressure, passed straight out to Steffen Kielstrup in a central position.  He took a touch to flick it up off the ground before he belted it back over the retreating keeper.  Two defenders took the trouble to go and console him.  No-one else anywhere near me cared. 1-0 It could have so easily been 3-0 within a couple of minutes.   First Bjerregaard just failed to get a touch to a through ball and then a shot was deflected on to the bar.  Horsens' first task was to get to half-time in the lead, and despite starting to defend a bit too deep they did so easily enough.  1-0 at half-time Horsens kept their defensive line higher and by the time they got to 60 minutes on the clock their keeper had only one punch to make.  København were out of sorts and if anything the home team looked more likely to score.  My second clip from 66 minutes has a chance at each end. These short clips are from 77, 84 and 86 minutes as København finally threw more men forward.  Horsens had to defend one of the corners with ten men as someone got treatment. The window of opportunity for a dramatic finish was opened with a second yellow card in the last minutes for Mads Agesen.  Here's the incident and you are the ref - did he deserve that? The last clip is from stoppage time as Horsens held on, defending a couple of set pieces to take all three points.  Final score 1-0
The programme
Something random - hopping in Denmark
I've thoroughly enjoyed this Jutland trip.  I flew from Stansted to Billund and used a hotel in Herning as a base.  The driving in rural Denmark is a pleasure.  Everyone spoke English really well, it has to be said, so my attempts at the local language were confined to reading rather than speaking.  Especially when the hotel receptionist turned out to be Bulgarian. Even though I managed to avoid the English, I couldn't avoid the English Premier League.  It's everywhere - I could even have bought a Manchester United shirt in the shop at Esbjerg's Blue Water stadium, for crying out loud.  Fortunately I had cleaned my boots earlier in the day.  My newspaper of choice for the week (BT - it's tabloidish and has lots of piccies and short sentences) gave more coverage to the EPL than to the second tier of Danish football.  To be fair, they give priority to tracking Danish international players, and so there is coverage of important games in La Liga and Die Bundesliga too.  There are other sporting alternatives - as it happens I found football every day but there are alternatives in ice hockey, handball and basketball.  For hopping purposes, staggered ko times mean that there are good chances of a daily double. The stadia were all less than half-full for the games I attended - so parking was easy if you turn up early enough, and getting away not too bad - and with a family atmosphere, plenty of mums and children in attendance too.  The away supporters were noisier, as usual.  The cost of a match ticket plus programme was around £12-£16 at today's exchange rate depending on where you chose to stand or sit.  Given that these are visually interesting and well-equipped stadia, it's astonishingly good value.  How the Superliga is surviving at this standard with crowds of a few thousand is amazing really.  They deserve better - as it happens, all the games I saw were tight affairs, with the result in doubt right to the final whistle, and as a passing neutral that's what I like more than anything. For your pre-match food, embrace the sausage is my advice, and don't hold back on the condiments.  Repeat. The style was continental with triangles, by and large, not played at a frenetic and lung-bursting pace but a nice change from the athleticism and percentage plays of the English leagues.  I hope I get a chance to go again and tick off some more.  Thanks for your interest in my latest ramblings.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
The five-match Danish trip, with 12 goals in 5 games, has brought the rolling average down a bit.  However, with 102 goals in 28 games we are still well within the bounds of pre-season expectation and a penny-a-goal pledge will be between two and three pounds, still less than the price of your Danish pre-match sausage.  You can add a pledge via Twitter or by email on headyapp(at)hotmail.com and I will ask you to pay up at the end of the season.
What Next?
A pile of laundry.  Other than that, not sure - follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter for any announcements.

Don't Bank on Midtjylland when Brøndby Visit

The coaches squared up to each other even before kickoff

 

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 28 October 2012 at the MCH Arena
Result	FC Midtjylland 1 Brøndby 1
Competition	Danish Superliga (top tier)
Hopping	490 on the lifetime list and the fourth of the trip
Pre-match preparation
9th v 12th (bottom) in the Superliga
This match in one sentence
Frustration for the home side as they failed to protect a hard-won lead by conceding a soft late equaliser.
So what?
No change in league positions, and a pastry for me as I try to read the match report the next day in the James Richardson style.
The drama unfolds
Brøndby have the best figures for away support in this league and their noisy supporters brought flair and flares to the occasion, along with a periodic random rendition of "Yellow Submarine".  To be honest, there was not much of distinction in the first quarter of the game, so let's cut to the scene-setter clip taken at the midpoint of the first half. After 26 minutes there was a touching moment as the ref helped a Brøndby player, Clarence Goodson, to his feet and then produced a matching yellow card from behind his back to our general amusement.  The home side had gradually settled and this second clip has a chance for them from a set piece. The third clip is from the half-hour mark.  The lively Rilwan Hassan had been fouled and two more decent chances followed. However, Brøndby reminded us all of their presence.  Quincy Antipas, wearing 80, had also looked lively all game and his rising shot was magnificently tipped over the bar by a flying Jonas Lössi.  That could be one of the best saves I have ever seen in a live game.  The ref became the centre of attention just before half-time.  Mads Albaek went on a powerful run from half-way and cut into the area.  Although he seemed to have missed his best options, he was then tripped, or so I and everyone else at the FCM end thought.  Mr Hansen didn't (not that one, this is Kenn).  This clip shows FCM hitting the woodwork just before half-time.  0-0 at half-time The home support were reasonably optimistic at this point, even when Brøndby had a goal disallowed straight from the restart.  The optimism was cemented as FCM took the lead after 55 minutes.  Danny Olsen's initial shot was beaten out, but the ball came to Hassan on the right who created the chance for Petter Andersson to finish.  1-0 They almost gave a goal away again immediately.  Kolja Afriyie slipped and let in Dennis Rommedahl but his shot was deflected wide.  From the partially cleared corner, Hassan showed a sublime bit of skill to release Albaek with an overhead kick.  Albaek's rising shot, however, rose too high. This clip is from 77 minutes. The equalising goal has been credited to Antipas and here it is in Clip 6.  Decide for yourself whether he looks surprised enough as it goes in.  It may be one of the best clips of goalkeeper indecision you will ever see.  1-1 It was a nervy final few minutes for the now-disgruntled home supporters as Brøndby risked being greedy.  They could have won it in stoppage time.  Here's the flavour of the closing moments in three short clips.  Final score 1-1
The programme
Laer Dansk Gennem Fodbold (Learn Danish Through Football)
Weekendens Hold - Team of the Week(end) Weekendens Flophold - Team of Flops of the Week(end) Gule Kort - Yellow cards Røde Kort - Red cards Søndag - Sunday
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Two goals added to the cumulative tally.
What Next?
One game left on this trip - Horsens v København tomorrow evening

Hedinsson Taps In, Son

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Sunday 28 October 2012 at the Blue Water Arena
Result	Esbjerg 1 SønderjyskE 2
Competition	Danish Superliga (top tier)
Hopping	489 on the lifetime list and the third of this trip
Pre-match preparation
10th v 8th in the Superliga.  Top scorers are Jakob Andersen and Lasse Vibe with four each for the respective sides.  The visitors are based in Haderslev and the capital E at the end of the name stands for Elite.
This match in one sentence
An injury-time winner took the points.
So what?
Esbjerg stay 10th, SønderjyskE climb to 7th depending on Monday's result.
The drama unfolds
The teams traded half-chances in the first twenty minutes or so.  Esbjerg's Kenneth Fabricius almost turned in a dangerous low cross from the right in the first minute.  SønderjyskE's Lasse Vibe sent a volley wide and then a cross just eluded him.  In the meantime Jacob Ankersen had also gone close for the home side. On 16 minutes, a super SønderjyskE move released Gill Swerts down the right and he laid on another shooting chance for Vibe.  Esbjerg's goalkeeper, Lukas Hradecky, made a magnificent one-handed stop. The scene-setter clip is from 24 minutes in. Just after this, SønderjyskE had two chances in quick succession after Jakob Ankersen had been harshly judged to have fouled Tommy Bechmann.  It is Bechmann who makes Hradecky work again in this next clip. As the interval approached, Martin Braithwaite might have done better with a header for the home side, and then Fabricius got hurt in the box in almost the same circumstances as the first minute.  Here's the clip, with a delicious pass by Steffen Ernemann to set up the chance, followed by another clip from stoppage time which has Sebastian Andersen hitting the bar after a good save from the visiting keeper.  0-0 at half-time SønderjyskE took the lead very early in the second half.  Hradecky punched a cross clear but the ball fell to Vibe whose shot crept in through a crowd, maybe with a deflection.  0-1 The visitors' defence were looking right into low bright sunlight and that could have been a factor in the equaliser after 56 minutes.  Jakob Ankersen got in front of his marker to head in Peter Ankersen's cross.  1-1 The SønderjyskE keeper was perhaps a bit fortunate to save a shot from Ernemann - his block looped up and landed on the roof of the net.  The game entered a cagey phase - both sides made substitutions and the rhythm became staccato.  The next two clips are from late Esbjerg pressure as they responded to the home crowd's urging. The sucker-punch winning goal came in stoppage time - I just caught the end of the play on film.  It will be unpleasant viewing for the Esbjerg faithful.  The scorer is Eyolfur Hedinsson.  If only it had been a header.  Final score 1-2
The programme
Laer Dansk Gennem Fodbold (Learn Danish Through Football)
forsvaret  defence midtbanen  midfield angrebet  attack dommer  referee Bechmann og Vibe voldte forsvarerne visse problemer Bechmann & Vibe caused the defenders some problems raekke - row
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Three goals, and therefore a three-goal game which is a bonus affecting one of my kind sponsors!
What Next?
Midtjylland v Brøndby in the same league later today.