New Firm share points in PARKEN

18/08 2012 21:12

FC Copenhagen and Brøndby battled out a 1-1 draw in the first New Firm clash of the season to keep FCK top of the Superliga. Nicolai Jørgensen scored his first goal for the club before Clarence Goodson nodded home a late equaliser.

by Joe Short

Head coach Ariel Jacobs was forced into a couple of changes to the side that beat AGF 3-0 last week. Johan Wiland sat out so goalkeeping duties were handed to Kim Christensen while on the right wing Christian Bolaños was replaced by Martin Vingaard.

FCK came close early on with César Santin’s magnificent overhead effort that crashed onto Michael Tørnes’ left-hand post and out to safety just two minutes in. The home side controlled the majority of the opening phases, but couldn’t force anything notable through a solid Brøndby defence bar Andreas Cornelius’ weak left-footed strike after 13 minutes.

BIF continued to stay resolute at the back, yet had their chances when Mike Jensen drilled a low shot into Christensen’s chest. On half an hour Christensen pulled off a magnificent safe to flick 23’s long-range drive onto the crossbar and thankfully away from danger.

Christensen keeps his lines clear

On 34 minutes Kris Stadsgaard surged forward after earning possession in his own half but his eventual effort bounced wide of the goal. Moments later Vingaard somewhat fluffed a deep cross which turned into a dangerous shot on goal that Tørnes did well to pluck out the air.

The half died away with not a huge amount of incident apart from Dennis Rommedahl’s unlucky attempt to stroll through FCK’s backline. Receiving the ball in the penalty box, the winger chose to try and beat Christensen rather than knock the ball past him, with Stadsgaard shrugging him off the ball at the last second.

The second half saw no changes to either side, and two minutes in Michael Krohn-Dehli stung Christensen’s palms with a fierce drive. Frustrations began to flair up when Vingaard upended Clarence Goodson to get a booking before Nicolai Jørgensen also saw yellow for a foul on the midfielder.

Jørgensen nods FCK into lead

Yet the surge in passion clearly worked to FCK’s favour, as on 53 minutes Jørgensen headed the home side into the lead. Lars Jacobsen’s deep cross found Cornelius who headed back across goal for Jørgensen to nod in his first Superliga goal for the club, 1-0!

A barren quarter of an hour followed the goal, with BIF securing their backline as Copenhagen peppered the box with crosses. A mix-up between Pierre Bengtsson and Ragnar Sigurdsson let Oke Akpoveta run through free on the right edge of Christensen’s box, but the striker blazed his effort high over the near post.

With 15 minutes to go Jacobs made a tactical substitution, bringing on Bolaños to add some firepower in PARKEN. He was immediately in the action; forcing a corner from a dangerous free-kick before setting up Sigurdsson for a decent headed chance.

BIF force equaliser

Despite FCK’s control Brøndby hit back on 84 minutes when Goodson headed home a deep Jens Larsen cross to level the scores. Suddenly there was a game on in PARKEN, with both sides striving to find a winning goal.

Yet the match finished just as it had started, with Santin delivering an acrobatic shot at goal. Just like his first chance however, the net failed to bulge as his sideways volley flew over the crossbar just 10 yards out. Santin’s effort was the last chance of the game, with FCK accepting a 1-1 draw to stay top of the Superliga.

FC COPENHAGEN: 1 BRØNDBY IF: 1

FC Copenhagen: Christensen, Jacobsen (C), Stadsgaard, Sigurdsson, Bengtsson, Vingaard, Claudemir, Kristensen, Jørgensen, Santin, Cornelius.

Brøndby IF: Tørnes, Randrup, Goodson, Dumic, Larsen, Rommedahl, Semou, Jensen, Krohn-Dehli, Thygesen, Akpoveta.

Goals: Jørgensen (53’), Goodson, Brøndby IF (84’).

Referee: Kenn Hansen.