Billund Stadion, DBU Jutland Series 5.1 , 17/10/23
Billund Idraetsforening Fodbold
Nickname – BIF
Honours – ?
Random Fact – We were to watch the second team who are found in Series 5 of the 11th and bottom tier of the DBU pyramid
Back onshore and as good as straight out on the football fix finding mission. Most people who head to Billund do so to fly somewhere from the airport which is a hub airport in the country. They either do this or head to Legoland. My sidekick Swifty and I were there to scoof a bag of cans and watch a game at the tidy Billund Stadion.
The night threw up a first for us where we were to get a bus from Esbjerg to Billund. I have travelled by train, plane and taxi to Danish games in the past but never by bus. It was a case of throwing my bag in the hotel and straight away on the bus from the heliport. With an hour and ten minutes and a couple of illicit beers (the only place you cannot drink in Denmark is on a bus) we were passing the Lego Castle Hotel, the Lego House and all the other brick themed building sin the town. We ignored the lot and walked to the south of the town where the decent sized Billund Stadion awaited.
With the floodlights shining down we were faced with nobody being there. This giving me a bit of the fear as I was worried the game was off. However a keeper appeared with ten minutes to go until kick off soon followed by his FB team mates. The home side though were especially tardy and could only have managed a 5 minute warm up. Being the bottom tier of the pyramid I was not expecting much in terms of professionality. But more importantly, I didn’t expect to see such an entertaining match. It was a cracker as is the ground. An ace set up.
FB (Firehøje Bresten) were the better team early on and were cutting through their opponents with ease. The were also getting an incredible amounts of balls into the box but with no end product. The other end of the park saw some- terrible finishing from the home side who should have been out of sight by 20 minutes. The did finally break the deadlock when their their 53 struck away a close effort across goal into the bottom corner. The first goal of the night but it should have been possibly the fifth. A half of missed chances for sure.
HT 1 v 0
Half time saw Swifty whip out an app on his phone to find out what stars were looking down on us from the clear sky. I looks like the biggest beam was Jupiter. This got my geek on somewhat. A seriously clever piece of kit. Who thinks up these things? After a sneaky piss behind the stand the teams were back out and we were away to be treated to a superb half of fitba. It took one minute for Billund to grab a second when the captain swept home a twenty yarder into the bottom corner. A decent finish. But FB were to half the gap immediately. A long pass over the top left Jonassen clear through to finish past Billund keeper Knudsen. Game on. From here the game took on a bit more niggle and and the foul count grew as did the booking count. Both teams had woken up and were well up for this now and it made for some ace viewing. FB were the better team again and were going all out for the equaliser. Their pace up front was causing big problems for Billund and it was a rapid move that saw the equaliser. The home defence was left in Henriksen’s wake as he burst down the right. He hit a cross box ball which beat Knudsen and left a tap into an empty net for Jonassen. Henriksen should have put his team in the lead moments later when he managed to blaze over the bar from a few yards out sending the ball closer to the big lum behind the goal than the goal itself. He was a lot closer soon after he let fly from distance but saw his effort thunder off the bar. It was hit with such ferocity it rebounded around thirty yards up the field before bouncing. A venomous effort. Then came a calamitous moment when a Billund defender tried to knee the ball back to his keeper but got it all wrong and sent it up and over the keeper leaving Henriksen to run in and send his team into the lead and given this was the 92nd minute surely he had won it . But there was still a twist in the tale and as I was disposing of Swifty and I’s spent tinnies in the bin at the front of the stand Billund equalised and I missed it. A mad finish to the game. A brilliant game I might add. Denmark once again throwing up the goods. We headed back towards the bus stop both chuffed at how the match had turned out. But we were dealt a shitty end of a stick when the bus failed to stop for us leaving a two hour wait until the next. However this gave us the chance to go for a pint in a local juicer, this allowing us to see San Marino score against Denmark, which was hilarious as seeing the locals and their embarrassment which gave us a good giggle. The wee nations first goal in 2 years. A top night out
Entrance – Free
Attendance – 26
Pie – N/A
Pint – Brought our own
FITBAWBAG 