Neestrup praises Óskarsson for AGF hat-trick

Jacob Neestrup says Sunday's 3-2 victory over AGF was well deserved but that his F.C. Copenhagen players didn't need to endure the added excitement of a dramatic finish in Parken.

Orri Óskarsson scored a second-half hat-trick for the Lions as they moved second in the Danish Superliga, just four points off leaders Brøndby.

The Lions went 3-1 up in stoppage time with Óskarsson's third, before Tobias Anker grabbed AGF's second to trigger a nervy final few minutes.

Afterwards Neestrup said: "Until they scored their first goal, I think we had very good control of the match, without it being exactly sparkling. I couldn't quite see how they could score.

"Even after we went ahead again both 2-1 and then 3-1, I thought it was home, and then it became unnecessarily exciting at the end when they reduced the score.

"But I think we fully deserved to win, even if everything was not perfect. In the first half we set up very well on our left side, but not enough came out of it. We didn't create enough dangerous situations and didn't have shots on goal, but I still felt that we had good control of the game.

"After the break, we suffered two injuries at short intervals, first (Peter) Ankersen and then (Andreas) Cornelius, and that gave us the challenge that we only had one substitution option for the rest of the match, so we had to be very deliberate.

"It was impressive of Orri to come on and score three times, but I don't want to take credit for that substitution. As I said, it was because of Corner's injury. But Orri must be highly praised for his effort today and in training in recent weeks. He has trained well and has been scratching his head without complaining, which is why I am also really happy on his behalf for the goals today."

Title race still on
There are now just five games of the Superliga remaining and Neestrup is hopeful his side can claw back the deficit on top spot.

"The most important thing was that we got the three points again, and there are four points between us now with five rounds to go, so we are scratching our heads and have by no means given up hope," he said. "We still have too few points compared to our resources but after the bad start to the Championship Round we have now taken seven points in the last three games.

"Now we just have to go home and work hard and humbly on the training ground to get out of the situation we have found ourselves into."

Next up for FCK is a trip to Silkeborg on Sunday before another away game at Brøndby a week later.