Doncaster Rovers 1 v 0 Crystal Palace

Saturday 24th September 2011
Football League Championship
Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster
Admission: £15.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 9,362
Match Rating: 3

With a cheap bus ticket to Sheffield aimlessly booked months in advance, my plan was to attend either the Don Valley Stadium - which has surely assumed the Football League's undisputed number 1 status as the most unsuitable and least atmospheric venue since Brighton vacated the Withdean Stadium, or a non-league game. However, a visit to the Keepmoat Stadium suddenly became the stand-out fixture for me to attend, considering tickets were almost at half price for this fixture, and that Doncaster would be playing Crystal Palace, a club who, being a Charlton fan, are the team I "love to hate" in the Football League.

Having caught the train from Sheffield Meadowhall to Doncaster, the Keepmoat Stadium is located about a twenty minute walk south-east of the train station, sandwiched between industrial estates, a retail park and also a small lake. Although most of the usual complaints about a newly built stadium can be applied here - no real character or unique identity - it is one of the better newly built grounds I have encountered. Well designed on the outside and inside, an attractively designed "wrap-around" stadium with excellent views from every seat in the ground, and the size of the ground has been sensibly set so that it has quite an intimate feel which helps for a good atmosphere to be generated. The programme was quite disappointing with little interesting to read but plenty of mundane articles.

Doncaster have made a dreadful start to this season, gaining just one point and scoring two goals in their opening seven matches, leaving them four points adrift at the foot of the table. Events bordered on the farcical at the club in recent days, with the chairman publicly fully backing manager Sean O'Driscoll on Thursday, only to place him on gardening leave on Friday (apparently via tezt message), quickly to be replaced Dean Saunders, surely appointed due to his name rather than experience gained in the Conference. It seemed harsh on O'Driscoll, perhaps a knee-jerk reaction to the club's poor start, considering the club has overachieved massively in their five years under O'Driscoll up to this season. For Crystal Palace, it has been something of a struggle to maintain their Championship status in the last couple of seasons, however they have made a reasonable start to this season, and find themselves firmly in mid-table, in twelth place in the 24 team league, although they have lost their last two league games.

As might have been expected with a new manager at the helm, Doncaster started off the game quite well, although Crystal Palace's young and pacy forward line always looked capable of weaving their way to a shot on goal. As the first half continued, Crystal Palace increasingly dominated proceedings as Doncaster's play deteriorated, probably due to a lack of confidence on the ball, relying on aimless balls forward, and they were probably slightly fortunate to go into the half-time interval with a 0-0 scoreline.

The second half started off with something of a midfield battle, Doncaster certainly improving but rarely looking capable of scoring. However, arguably the game-changing moment came with the introduction of Doncaster's Billy Sharp, the club's top goalscorer in the last two seasons. His introduction lifted the fans, and his all-action display certainly lifted the team. Ten minutes after his introduction, and Doncaster took the lead, with the slice of luck that clubs in a predicament like Doncaster need, when former Crystal Palace midfielder John Oster took possession about 30 yards out and struck at goal, and a large deflection off a defender's leg wrong-footed the goalkeeper and the ball nestled in the corner of the net. From this point, there only looked to be one winner, as Doncaster spurned several wonderful chances to increase their lead and by now Crystal Palace's threat was negligible. And so Doncaster secured a crucial three points and a good start for the new manager, and whilst they remain bottom of the table, hope will have grown that they can move in the right direction. Crystal Palace look destined for a comfortable mid-table season, and they have some excellent tricky youngsters who the club will do well to keep hold of in the long term.

Elite 3000 Helsingør 0 v 4 Brøndby IF

Wednesday 21st September 2011
Danish Cup 3rd Round
Helsingør Stadion, Helsingør
Admission: 100 DKK
Programme: 10 DKK
Attendance: 1,795
Match Rating: 3

For the final game of my stay in the Copenhagen area, it was another game in the Danish Cup, with a romantic cup game between Elite 3000 Helsingør , a club who have only been in existence since 2005 following a merger of five clubs who have never played higher than Division 2 East, against one of the biggest and most famous clubs in Denmark, Brøndby. It would be a game of particular interest for me, as Dennis Rommedahl, the former Charlton player, now plays for Brøndby, and so it would be interesting to see how he would do whilst at the same time giving me nostalgic feelings of the days when Charlton were in a position to sign decent international players.

Helsingør is reached by a 45 minute train journey north from Copenhagen, and from the station one has the choice of catching another train for a five minute journey to Hojstrup station, which is almost adjacent to the ground, or walking to the ground - the option I chose, which took about 20 minutes.Tickets could be bought just outside the main entrance, and one inside the ground, the stadium is very pleasant. Straddling the half way line is a tradtional all-seater stand, with a hill of trees closely hugging the ground along that side. On the other side of the ground is a concrete stand of uncovered terrace steps. For tonight's game, Brøndby supporters had about half of this stand, as well as the area behind one of the goals - behind both goals was just hard standing. Happily, no running track is present at this ground so supporters are close to the pitch. The ground does not usually have floodlights but for tonight's game, temporary ones were installed. Programmes were available, 4 pages of A4 size, which gave good basic information about tonight's game - what I could understand of it.

Elite 3000 made quite a poor start to their season in Division 2 East, gaining just one point from their opening four games, before winnng two of their last three games, and they have comfortably won two games to reach this stage in the competition. Brøndby have not made a good start to this season, gaining just nine points from their opening nine games, and find themselves in ninth place in the twelve team league.

Brøndby's average start to the season would have given Elite 3000 hope of an upset, and they almost got off to a sensational start, putting the ball in the back of the net inside 20 seconds, but the goal was (apparently correctly) ruled out for offside. However on three minutes, Brøndby's two Danish international forwards, Rommedahl and Martin Krohn-Dehli, combined to open the scoring and settle Brøndby's nerves, with Rommedahl's still electric pace breaking clear of the defence, and with the keeper and a defender rushing out to close him down, Rommedahl passed to Krohn-Dehli who had the simple task of tapping into the net on the slide. Brøndby went on to completely dominate proceedings, with Elite 3000 always looking likely to concede, but somehow the scoreline remained just 0-1 at half time.

That soon changed within 3 minutes of the restart though, when Rommedahl whipped in a cross from the right, and the New Zealander Brent McGrath finished excellenty on the volley. That goal really killed the game, although Brøndby could not add a further goal until the 75 minutes, with Rommedahl claiming his third assist, crossing from the right and giving McGrath a simple tap in. On 78 minutes, Brøndby added a fourth following a quick break by Krohn-Dehli with a good individual goal beating the keeper. Romantics might say that the 0-4 final scoreline was unfortunate on the home side, but it did probably adequately reflect the gulf in class between the two side, indeed, the scoreline could have been a few goals worse for Elite 3000.

Hvidovre IF 2 v 2 Aarhus GF

(Aarhus win 9-8 on penalties)
Tuesday 20th September 2011
Danish Cup 3rd Round
Hvidovre Stadion, Copenhagen
Admission: 50 DKK
Programme: Free with admission
Attendance: 1,119
Match Rating: 4

Back in Denmark for this evening's football fix and an interesting looking clash in the Danish Cup, with a David versus Goliath clash, a top tier Superliga team - who, as fate would have it, I had watched win at Koge only three days previously - visiting a third tier team, with the ingredients in place for a potential giantkilling.

The Hvidovre Stadium is certainly one of the easier to find, taking an S-train from central Copenhagen to Friheden station - which takes around 20 minutes, and just as the train pulls into the station, the stadium's floodlights become visible closeby, and the stadium is just a couple of minutes along a straight main road from the station. Apparently unusually in Denmark, admission was simply paid on admission to the ground. I mistakingly found myself having entered the visitor's section, which was not ideal, as a natural supporter of the underdog, and the section was confined to one small part of the ground, the other three quarters of the ground one could freely roam. However, the visitor's large and vocal support persuaded me to retain my place in their section. For a third tier club, the Hvidovre Stadion is rather impresive. It contains a large all-seater stand along one length of the pitch, about a quarter of which was assigned to Aarhus fans tonight, with five rows of uncovered benches circulating around the rest of the ground. Once again, a running track circulated the pitch, ensuring poor views of the action from behind either goal. Surprisingly given the lowly status of the club, the programme produced, which was given out free on admission, was the best throughout my hopping in Denmark, containing 16 pages in colour, with what looked like interesting articles, not that I could understand them.

Tonight's match would be between two teams who met in the league last season, before going in opposite directions - Aarhus upwards to the Superliga as champions, Hvidovre down to Division 2 East, finish last and 10 points adrift of safety in last season's Division 1.Unsurprisingly, Aarhus did the double over Hvidovre last season, winning 3-0 in April in Hvidovre, and 7-1 earlier in the season in Aarhus. Hvidovre have made a good start to this season though, winning six and drawing the other of their seven games so far, and have had comfortable 1-5 away victories in both of their previous Danish Cup ties to get to this round.

One would have predicted a comfortable away win, however the cat was set amongst the pigeons with just seven minutes on the clock, when the ball broke free allowing Jonas Rasmussen a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he cooly slotted the ball into the net to give the underdogs an unexpected lead. It was quickly becoming apparent that this would be an even contest, and only slowly did Aarhus begin to threaten, and on 17 minutes they came close to scoring when an awful corner broke for a long range shot which the keeper could only block, and then had to make a point blank save to deny the follow up shot. On 27 minutes, Aarhus were back on level terms though, when a player cut in from the right and unleashed a shot which the keeper could only parry to Aron Johansson, who slotted home from about 8 yards. One felt that the chances of a shock were waning and that Aarhus would now control the game, however slighlty against the run of play, Hvidovre amazingly went back into the lead, when a well worked move left Soren Weibel with a one-on-one, and he showed good composure in slotting past the keeper. And so it was Hvidovre who held the advantage after a surprisingly well balanced first half, with no apparent gulf between the two sides.

Aarhus unsurprisingly started to take control of proceedings, although they rarely really threated Hvidovre's goal, although on 53 minutes, they had a shot blocked on the line. On 67 minutes, they equalised for a second time, when a looping cross was headed into the net by Soren Larsen from close range. Although Aarhus by now looked the likely winners, on 77 minutes Hvidovre had a great chance to score when a forward just beat the keeper to a header, but the ball dropped agonisingly just wide of the goal. In the last ten minutes, Hvidovre's goal led quite a charmed life with at least five shots going very narrowly wide or over, but 2-2 was the score after 90 minutes, a terrific achievement for Hvidovre. So the game headed into extra time, and although both sides had fantastic chances to win ihe tie - Hvidovre in particular looking very tired, there was no further scoring throughout extra time and so the game headed to a penalty shoot-out. With Aarhus taking the first penalty, the first 17 penalties were converted, mostly excellently, a couple only just squirming through the keeper's dive, until Hvidovre's Marco Ziegler's penalty struck the crossbar to cause heartbreak for the home side and ensure Aarhus's passage into the nexr round - expected, but boy were they made to work hard for it....

Ängelholms FF 2 v 0 Åtvidabergs FF

Monday 19th September 2011

Swedish Superettan

Ängelholms Idrottsplats, Ängelholm

Admission: 100 SK

Programme: Free with admission

Attendance: 1,524

Match Rating: 4

With no games in the vacinity of Copenhagen being played this evening, I decided to head into Sweden for my football fix, for an attractive looking top of the table clash in the second tier of Swedish football.

To get to Ängelholm involved a 40 minute train ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor, followed by a twenty minute ferry crossing to Helsingborg, and finally a twenty minute train ride north to the pleasant small town of Ängelholm, with the stadium about a twenty minute walk south of the town's train station. The Ängelholms Idrottsplats is rather basic with a running track between the spectators and the pitch. There is an all-seater stand straddling the half way line, and on the other side are two narrow uncovered terraces either side of the half way line, with temporary looking uncovered sructures providing additional steps for standing. Only hard standing is available behind either goal, and as this is behind the running track, the distance to the pitch from these areas make these areas unattactive to watch the action from. A basic four page programme is available on entering the grounds, giving all of the basic information for the match such as league table and squad lists.

Unlike the Danish football league season, which is only a month and a half old, in Sweden they are at the business end of the season, with teams in the Superettan having just six games left in the 30 game season. Tonight's match would be between the two sides who look favourites to fill the two promotion places to the top-flight Allsvenskan. Tonight's visitors, relegated to the Superettan for this season, led the table going into tonight's game, who in turn were three points clear of third placed GIF Sundsvall. After a wonderful run that saw them unbeaten in the league from mid-May until their last game last weekend, at home to neighbours Landskrona. Åtvidabergs have also been in great form, unbeaten since late July and won their last four games.

The match started evenly, but it was the home side who opened the scoring on 19 minutes, with a very good shot by Jonas Lindh from just outside the box beating the keeper's dive. Eight minutes later and Åtvidabergs almost got back on level terms when a curling shot from 18 yards out struck the post. After an entertaining and well balanced first half, it was the home side who held a slender 1-0 advantage, but both teams looked capable of scoring.

Persistent drizzle accompanied the second half, during which the game could have swung either way, both sides having good chances to score, but it took until seven minutes from time for another goal to be scored. It was the home side who scored it, to surely secure the three points in this vital encounter, when a long cross to the back post was played across goal and was tapped in by Sebastian Andersson. This seemed to break the visitors, as Ängelholms has two great chances to score a third, although Åtvidabergs then had a piledriver tipped past the post, and then a header from a corner was cleared off the line. 2-0 was how it finished after a game that was interesting without ever really catching fire, and result means that Ängelholms now assume leadership of the league and ensures a very interesting finale to the season, with third placed Sundsvall also winning 5-0 tonight to keep in contention.

FC Copenhagen 2 v 0 Aalborg BK

Sunday 18th September 2011
Danish Superliga
Parken, Copenhagen
Admission: 135 DKK
Programme: None
Attendance: 15,245
Match Rating: 3

After travelling back to Copenhagen from my first game of the day at Roskilde, it was soon time to make my way to what I considered to be the highlight of my groundhopping week in Denmark, with a visit to Denmark's national stadium, to watch the team generally considered to be the biggest not just in Denmark but in the whole of Scandinavia, FC Copenhagen.

Parken is located to the north of the city centre, buses are available, however I decided to walk the journey,which took about half an hour. The stadium towers above the neighbouring housing, and is as impressive on the outside as it is inside. I purchased my ticket in advance, making a modest saving in doing so, for a seat in the top tier along one length of the pitch. As seats are not allocated in this section, one could choose to sit wherever one pleased, apart from those seats reserved for season ticket holders. Although fairly high up, views were excellect and unobstructed, helped by a fairly steep incline with the rows of seating. The stadium, which has a retractable roof, is pleasing on the eye, with all stands being close to the pitch and all corners of the ground filled and three sides of the ground have a symmetrical look, with the rooves and tiers joined up. Behind one of the goals there is only a lower tier of seating, above which are offices and executive boxes. Whilst fairly small as an international stadium, with a capacity just under 40,000, it is much more than adequate for the crowds that FC Copenhagen (who actually own the stadium) attract, even being the most popular club in the country. Surprisingly, considering the club's stature and how programmes are usually provided at football matches in Denmark, no programmes were available for this fixture.

Unsurprisingly for a club with resources far in excess of every other club in Denmark, which have been further bolstered with their appearance in the group stages of the Champions League last season, FC Copenhagen have won the league for the last three seasons, and eight times in the last eleven seasons. A change of manager, with Roland Nilsson appointed during the close season after prevous manager Stale Solbakken left to take up the reigns at FC Koln, does not seem to have stopped the runaway train, as they have won seven and drawn the other of the eight games so far this season, and so found themselves seven points clear of tonight's visitors, second placed Aalborg. Aalborg have been one of the main challengers to FC Copenhagen in recent years, and won the title in 2007-2008, and have the distinction of being the first ever club to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League in 1995/96. Last season almost saw them relegated tough, finishing immediately above the relegation zone in tenth place in the twelve team league, just one and two points clear of the two relegated clubs. They have made a more promising start to this season though, with four wins and three draws from their eight games.

Unsurprisingly, it was FC Copenhagen who dominated this match for long periods, although they quite rarely really looked like scoring, indeed, it was probably the visitors who had the best chances to open the scoring, most notably on 35 minutes when Nicklas Helenius struck the post. Aalborg would certainly have been the happier with the goalless scoreline at half time, but they almost took the lead within a minute of the restart when Henrik Dalsgaard found himself in a good position, but eventually shot wide  under pressure from a defender. Normal service was soon resumed however, as the home side dominated proceedings, but as time passed by and with sloppy errors putting an end to promising attacks, it was beginning to look like a goalless draw was looming. However, eight minutes from time, they finally took the lead, when a free kick from Christain Bolanos (who I had been particularly looked forward to watching, having looked impressive whilst on trial for Charlton several seasons ago only to be denied a work permit) was headed in bravely by Ragnar Sigurdsson. Soon after the goal, Aalborg has a chance to get back on level terms, but two minutes from time and FC Copenhagen put the game to bed, when Christian Grindheim played an excellent throughball and Dame N'Doye, top scorer in the Superliga last season with 25 goals, held off a defender before slotting home. So a deserved victory for FC Copenhagen, in a match which clearly showed the gap between them and the rest of the chasing pack.

Video highlights of this game can be found here

FC Roskilde 0 v 2 FC Vestsjælland

Sunday 18th September 2011
Danish 1. Division
Roskilde Idrætspark, Roskilde
Admission: 100 DKK
Programme: Free with admission
Attendance: 764
Match Rating: 3

Day two of my stay in Copenhagen, and although the game I headed to did not have, in all honesty, much appeal in itself, being between two average mid-table sides in the second tier of Danish football, the early 1pm kick-off fitted in perfectly to take in before my planned visit to Parken, Denmark's national stadium, in the evening.

The town of Roskilde is located about a half hour train ride westwards from Copenhagen, with the stadium about a 15 minute walk from the train station. As is common in Denmark, tickets must be bought just outside the entrance, and once inside, the stadium very much has the feel of a typical basic Scandinavian venue for football, in that there is a running track between the pitch and the spectators. It has one main all-seater stand straddling the half-way line, along the other length of the pitch are half a dozen uncovered pebble-covered steps. Unlike many other grounds with a running track, it is possible to stand close behind either goal, although there was no hard standing, just grass. It is a very neat, tidy and spacious stadium, although lacking in character or charm. Programmes were given out free of charge from the ticket office, a basic 4 page colour publication, which covered all the essential information.

Both of today's teams have made almost identical, unspectacular starts to the season. After each playing five games so far, they have both won two, drawn one and lost two of their games, and both have a goal difference of plus two, Vestsjælland having scored one more goal. Roskilde have won both of their home games so far, whilst only picking up one point from three away games. Vestsjælland have lost both of their away games so far, whilst winning two and drawing the other of their home games.

On arrival at the stadium about an hour ahead of kick off, there was torrential rain and a violent thunderstorm, which caused me concern as to whether the game may be in doubt if it persisted. Happily, the rain subsided within about a quarter of an hour apart from the odd light rain shower, and the pitch remained in excellent condition. The opneing goal of this encounter came with just four minutes on the clock, when a low cross into the box evaded a whole host of players except for Rasmus Festersen, who slid in at the far post to score off the underside of the bar to give the visitors an early lead. For the first half hour of the game,Vestsjælland looked the stronger side, and then Roskilde came back into the match and had three wonderful chances to equalise in the last five minutes of the half, first a header from a corner was cleared off the line, then a shot just flashed wide of the post, and finally a long range shot cannoned off the bottom of the post with the keeper beaten.

Just like the first half, Vestsjælland started the second half the stronger, on 48 minutes they had a shot saved at point blank range, and on 65 minutes a shot from wide of the goal forced a sliding goal line clearance with the keeper beaten. On 72 minutes, the visitors opened up a two goal lead when a cross into the box was met with a header by Sladan Peric, which looped over the keeper and into the net. For the rest of the game, Roskilde huffed and puffed, and on 84 minutes hit the post direct from a corner, but in the end Vestsjælland held on for what on the whole was a deserved victory, although Roskilde could count themselves unfortunate not to score at least once.