Emil Højlund

Neestrup pleased with first friendly of summer

F.C. Copenhagen head coach Jacob Neestrup says progress has been made after watching his side beat Silkeborg 2-1 at Number 10 in the first friendly of pre-season.

Goals from Emil Højlund and Mamoudou Karamoko in the second half turned the contest in FCK's favour. The Lions will now prepare for their training camp in Austria, and Neestrup gave his immediate reaction to the friendly to FCK.dk.

"There were more pluses than minuses, both collectively and individually, and it even went a little better than expected considering that it was our first friendly match," the boss said.

Viktor Claesson
Viktor Claesson header på mål. Foto: Torkil Fosdal, FCK.DK

"We created many chances before the break, found some good openings and the pressure was also good, but we had difficulty getting the ball into the goal. A good number of our players performed well both before and after the break in a generally good training match."

Both Isak Johannesson and Jordan Larsson had good chances at the start of the match, before the visitors took the lead on a counterattack in the 24th minute. Kasper Kusk sent Alexander Lind through alone, and he eased the ball past Andreas Dithmer, who played the whole game.

On Dithmer, Neestrup said: "It was as we had said in advance, because we wanted to see Andreas play 90 minutes of senior football. He hasn't had that many matches. He made several good saves today, including on some long shots."

Mamoudou Karamoko
Mamoudou Karamoko scorer sejrsmålet. Foto: Torkil Fosdal, FCK.DK