Senegalese strikes sink Brøndby

05/04 2012 22:47

The first New Firm clash of 2012 saw an injury-ridden FC Copenhagen face a Brøndby IF team unbeaten in six Superliga games. Head coach Carsten V. Jensen named a couple of changes to his starting XI, bringing in Ragnar Sigurdsson to the centre of defence and Pape Pate Diouf to the left wing.

by Joe Short

Copenhagen were first to threaten, when César Santin broke free of his man to shoot from range on five minutes. Michael Tørnes tipped spectacularly over the crossbar and from the resulting corner Dame N’Doye got his head on a deep cross, but nodded wide. The FCK fans were out in full force for the clash, and kept the noise at an intimidating high whenever Brøndby were in possession.

The away side’s first chance came on ten minutes from a long ball. Nicolaj Agger collected the pass on the BIF left wing, cut around Thomas Kristensen, but shot wide across the face of Johan Wiland’s goal. Nine minutes later Bryan Oviedo received the ball on the left wing, whipped in a cross for Santin, but the striker’s header again flew high over the bar.

Oviedo himself almost opened the scoring moments later. N’Doye dropped deep to pick up the ball and spread wide left. The Costa Rican ran at his man, cut inside on his right foot and attempted a spectacular curling effort that sailed wide.

End-to-end action finishes half

On the half hour a long ball from Oluwafemi Ajilore gave Simon Christoffersen the opportunity to fend off Sigurdsson on the edge of the area and get a shot away. His effort hit Wiland’s side netting however. Moments later and Wiland was again lucky when the FCK keeper fluffed a high cross into his box. The ball spilled out to Mikkel Thygesen, who volleyed it first time, inches wide of the unguarded goal.

Four minutes before half time and the game looked to be ebbing away from either side. However, Copenhagen’s perseverance gave them the lead through a fantastic team goal. Christian Bolaños spotted Santin making a deep run and played the ball over the top. Almost at the byline Santin cut back to N’Doye, who laid to Lars Jacobsen. The right-back put Diouf free on the left of the BIF box, and the Senegalese took his time to curl round Tørnes and make it 1-0.

PARKEN was still rocking from the wonderful goal when Brøndby equalised however. Immediately from kick off the away side attacked down their left, resulting in Thygesen running behind the FCK defence. The winger cut back to Christoffersen and although his initial shot was well blocked by Oviedo, no one could prevent the striker’s second effort finding the bottom-left corner of the goal.

Lions retake the lead

First half chances didn’t stop there. Both N’Doye and Santin could have given FCK back their advantage, but after a neat one-two with his strike partner N’Doye saw his low shot saved. Santin pounced on the rebound but volleyed over the crossbar from six yards, Tørnes still on the ground.

Half time saw no changes to CV’s side, and so the game restarted with as much intensity as it had broke. Three minutes in and N’Doye received a neat through ball from Bolaños, bore down upon goal but shot wide. Santin then had a close-range header saved following determined work by Bolaños on the right.

But it didn’t take long for the Lions to make it 2-1. The goal had been coming and FCK’s threat down the right wing finally paid off when Lars Jacobsen pushed forward and crossed square to N’Doye ten yards out. The Superliga’s top scorer side-footed the ball home first time to send the PARKEN fans again into raptures.

N’Doye to the double secures victory

A period of stalemate followed the goal, which saw the Lions sit back, happy to let Brøndby hold possession without much threat. On 64 minutes Mike Jensen shot wide from the edge of the FCK area, while N’Doye almost scored one of his classic headed goals three minutes later, connecting at the far post with Oviedo’s free kick but directing his effort off target.

As the game neared to an end it was clear neither side wanted to risk conceding another goal. Copenhagen attacked with caution, knowing that sending too many forward could provoke a counter attack. Meanwhile, Brøndby settled to playing five men across their defence at times, in order to break FCK down.

With six minutes to go Clarence Goodson plucked a high ball out the air, turned and shot at Wiland’s goal, but the effort deflected wide for a corner. Copenhagen were sitting further and further back, but in the final minute of normal time they hit BIF on a five-man counter attack. Substitute Pierre Bengtsson sprinted the length of the field to reach the Brøndby byline, chip across the face of goal to N’Doye at the back post, who smashed home his 15th league goal of the season.

The 3-1 win sees Copenhagen extend their lead at the top of the Superliga to six points, with a weekend trip to AGF up next for CV’s men.

FC COPENHAGEN: 3 BRØNDBY IF: 1

FC Copenhagen: Wiland(C), Jacobsen, Ottesen, Sigurdsson, Oviedo, Kristensen, Grindheim, Bolaños, Diouf, Santin, N’Doye.

Brøndby IF: Tørnes, Randrup, Goodson, Stenderup, Frederiksen, Stryger, Jensen, Ajilore, Thygesen, Agger, Christoffersen.

Goals: Diouf (41’), Christoffersen, Brøndby IF (42’), N’Doye (51’), N’Doye (90’).

Referee: Jakob Kahlet.