Defeat to Vendsyssel FF

AB Gladsaxe played on Friday, in front of 745 spectators, their second match in the promotion round. The opponents were Vendsyssel FF, who were chasing a move up the table.
AB’s coaching staff had made a few changes to today’s starting line-up compared with the most recent match against HIK. Marco Vesterholm came into the central midfield alongside Søren Ilsøe, and Tobias Lykkebak took a seat on the bench. Noah Engell started after a long injury layoff. On the right wing, O´Vonte Mullings started, and Tobias Hageltorn took a seat on the bench.

The starting line-up was as follows
In goal: Adam Ingi Benediktsson; right back: Tobias Damtoft; centre backs: Adrien Koudelka and Marc Dal Hende (captain); left back: Travian Sousa; in midfield: Marco Vesterholm and Søren Ilsøe. On the left wing: Jonathan Mathys, and on the right wing: O´Vonte Mullings. Up front: Milan Silva Rasmussen and Noah Engell.

Match report
The match was played at Gladsaxe Stadium, and conditions were tough for AB’s usually very technically sound style of play. On the other hand, the pitch was no disadvantage for Vendsyssel’s physical, hard-hitting game. Vendsyssel kept creating pressure, making it difficult for AB to build up play.

Vendsyssel stuck to the same approach throughout the match, with tight marking of AB’s players all over the pitch, and they capitalised on situations where AB lost the ball and broke forward quickly.
After 21 minutes, Vendsyssel won a corner, which Lasse Steffensen headed in to make it 1-0.

Vendsyssel had plenty of corners. AB won a couple of corners too, but they were often too close to goal or were caught by Vendsyssel goalkeeper Lasse William Schulz.
Just before half-time, AB won a free kick on the right side a few metres outside the box. Travian Sousa struck a hard, accurate ball into the area close to goal, and Lasse William Schulz had to pull off a great save.

At the start of the second half, Casper Grening took Noah Engell’s place.
Shortly afterwards, an inaccurate AB pass sent a Vendsyssel player through on goal, but his finish went wide.

Jonathan Mathys received a good pass in front of goal, but his finish went just wide of the post.
With half an hour left, Vendsyssel made it 2-0 when AB failed to clear the ball from the box and Emil Grøn Pedersen extended the lead.
Tobias Damtoft left the pitch and was replaced by Frederik Lindgaard. Alfred Horup took over in central midfield after Marco Vesterholm. Milan Silva Rasmussen went to the bench and Tobias Hageltorn took his place up front.

AB tried to play with a bit more pace, but despite a couple of chances late on, they had to accept a 2-0 defeat. With a few minutes left, Emil Mygind came on and Søren Ilsøe left the pitch.
A 2-0 defeat isn’t something we’re used to, but it has to be handled, and the players need to look ahead to the upcoming matches.

Captain Marc Dal Hende thanked the fans for their great support: “I think it was a deserved defeat. Vendsyssel were strong, and we were up against a grown-up, mature and physical team. There was plenty of power. They were clear in the way they did things. We knew they had two big strikers and were good at bringing them into play.
So a deserved win for them, while we were a bit off and couldn’t get our game going.” We need to go home and recover a bit after this match, and then an important game awaits on Friday.

That’s how it is sometimes in football. You can’t go through an entire season unbeaten. We still have to do our things, and we weren’t good enough at that today. We never got our game going, and they were good at breaking things up.

Big praise for the atmosphere today. It was great to be at Gladsaxe Stadium – but also huge respect for the support in Brøndby. It’s a shame we couldn’t give more today – but a big thank you for the support!”, Marc Dal Hende concludes.

Head coach Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson looked back on the match: “We got a couple of warnings that they were dangerous before they scored the first goal. We weren’t aggressive enough and didn’t shut down their play. They punished us for that. There was so little rhythm in the game. We didn’t move their defensive unit, and we wanted to create more difficult situations for them, but we didn’t manage it.
We struggled a lot with our build-up play, especially in the first half. I wanted us to take some attacking situations that I know we can normally take. But we took too many touches in the middle of the pitch. It certainly wasn’t the most entertaining match—maybe a bit boring to watch. But that’s how it is sometimes—we’ve had the toughest winter in many years. We have to be able to handle that—and we couldn’t today,” Fannar Berg Gunnólfsson concludes.

The next match will be played at Gladsaxe Stadium on Friday, 24 April 2026 at 19:00, when Næstved come to visit.