STRONG PERFORMANCE AND ATTENDANCE RECORD AGAINST AALBORG
Photo: Jens Ørgaard Jensen
We were hoping for a blockbuster of a match against the star-studded side and defending Danish champions from Aalborg Håndbold — and that's exactly what we got.
After a tricky opening that left us trailing 1-5 after four minutes, things began to come together at both ends of the court as the half wore on.
Michael Damgaard and Kassem Awad delivered strongly in attack, while Emil Kheri Imsgard played an absolutely leading role and put in his — by some distance — best minutes in a HØJ Elite shirt to date.
Imsgard carried on the impressive form from the match in Holstebro and hit an absolute top level in the first half after coming on just under ten minutes into the contest.
Our Norwegian class keeper racked up ten big saves in the first half, which earned him a thoroughly deserved title as HØJ Elite's player of the match after the final whistle.
The scoreboard at Brøndby Hallen read 16-17, so everything was still up for grabs heading into the final 30 minutes. We started this period better than we'd opened the match, and the one-goal deficit hadn't changed when the clock passed the 40-minute mark. (20-21)
The visitors then delivered their best eight minutes of the match, pulling out to a 27-21 lead, after which things started to look difficult for our favourites.
Down by six goals, the players nonetheless kept fighting and even clawed back a little against the league's dominant leaders, with it all ending in a 32-28 Aalborg Håndbold win.
Off the court, we could note impressive support from more than 2,700 spectators, which is of course a new club record for HØJ Elite at a home match.
Strongly backed in the stands by Danish, Swedish and German HØJ Elite fans alike, the players felt the support all the way through.
Michael Damgaard's very own fan group from Magdeburg had also turned up, and these enthusiastic fans were a great pleasure to meet and experience as they performed at an absolute top level both vocally and visually.
On top of that, once again a well-deserved round of applause goes out to HØJ Elite's match crew, who worked flat out from Friday afternoon until late Saturday evening.
Our pride in the volunteers at HØJ Elite is nothing short of enormous and can't be said often enough — THANK YOU, FRIENDS!
The next assignment for the HØJ Elite men is the important away match in Grindsted on Wednesday 5 November at 19:00.
HØJ Elite – Togetherness and Community in a Class of Its Own
