Kvist and Delaney: The start we needed

William Kvist believes an early goal in FC Copenhagen’s first game of the season helped settle the nerves against Crusaders.

Goals from Federico Santander and Andreas Cornelius plus a debut strike for Rasmus Falk earned the Lions a 3-0 victory at Seaview.

The result means FCK take a strong advantage back to Telia Parken for the reverse leg of this Champions League second-round qualifying tie.

And Kvist was glad to get the season off to a winning start.

“We’re pleased. Not conceding any goals and scoring three ourselves - that’s job done,” Kvist told fck.dk.

“Of course it wasn’t the prettiest game. Maybe we could have scored even more but of course heading into the next game in Parken we know Crusaders’ level.

“Getting a goal so early in the game is fantastic as it got everything settled down. We have a game in three days (against Lyngby) so pleased to be able to go into that with a good result.”

Danish title holders Copenhagen earned passage to Champions League qualification after lifting the Alka Superliga championship less than two months ago.

The Lions didn’t play in the group stage of a European competition last season and Kvist is hopeful of securing regular midweek games once again.

“Last season we didn’t play two games each week but now we do and that’s fantastic. We’re not complaining about coming home late tonight and playing in two-and-a-half days. It’s not a problem," he said.

“We love it and that’s what we want, to be in every tournament. It’s about rhythm. Now we just have games and rest, games and rest. Be ready, be tired, be ready, be tired. That’s how it should be.”

Looking ahead to the Lyngby clash, Kvist added: “I thought today we had to be more patient. After 60 minutes when Crusaders were getting tired - that is the same game plan we will have for Saturday. We want to get the ball rolling.

“You always have to get off to a good start at the beginning of the season of course but playing at home against a team just coming up and a team we should beat normally, we need to control the game and be patient. They have a young team.”

FCK captain Thomas Delaney was also delighted with the result on the artificial turf in Belfast and looked ahead to Saturday’s 6.30pm kick off.

“When we play in Parken or wherever we play we are obligated to win so we will hopefully do that as well.

“It will be nice playing at home without astroturf!

“It was very, very fast because of the rain so there was a bit of getting used to it regarding to speed. But for us it’s actually good.

“I’d rather that than a bad pitch where they play long balls.

“It’s a little bit tough on the legs and joints but it’s one game, two games a year and we can handle it.”