Marcus Tracy made his longest appearance of the season for Aalborg, taking the field for the final half-hour on Monday as the team rallied from a goal down to steal a point from league leaders Odense.
Still feeling the sting of being on the wrong end of last week's embarrassing Danish Cup upset by Hobro, Aalborg came to leaders Odense in the midst of a run which had seen them lose four of their last five in all competitions and without a league win since mid-September.
Immediately following the opening whistle in Odense's Fiona Park, the dominance of the home team was clear as they kept constant pressure on Aalborg's goal but were continually thwarted by the strong play of keeper Karim Zaza, who seemed to have shifted his play into a higher gear against his former team.
With just two minutes gone by, Zaza was first called into action to save a shot from Peter Utaka, then had barely time to catch his breath before being forced to stuff out a moment of danger from Hans Henrik Andreasen two minutes later.
The game of chess continued until the break, with Odense feeling as though they should have broken the deadlock on several occasions only to be denied each time by the Moroccan international.
Aalborg coach Magnus Pehrsson was forced into a halftime substitution of central defender Lasse Nielsen due to cramping, which seemed to pay dividends as his squad were better able to get a grip on matters in the second half.
They finally had their first chance on goal just past the hour mark with Jeppe Curth forcing Odense keeper Roy Carroll into a save following a corner. The hosts, however, were finally the first to break the deadlock moments later when Johan Absalonsen ran the length of the field with the ball and left it for the wide-open Utaka who fired his team into the lead.
Tracy entered the game just following the goal for the largely-ineffective Ronnie Schwartz and saw his team equalize in the 68th minute when Patrick Kristensen found Andreas Johansson free on the left side of the area, with the Swede sending his low shot between Carroll's legs and into goal to even the score.
Both teams were energized by their goals and kept the pressure up in the final 20 minutes with hopes to register a win, but both Zaza and Carroll refused to budge sending each team home with a point.
The draw keeps Aalborg in seventh place, just one point behind Aarhus. Tracy will hope to see more time with the first team when they host second-place Copenhagen on Sunday evening. |
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