Following his side’s 1-1 draw away to Hearts in the UEFA Conference League, FC Nordsjælland manager Jens Olsen reflects on what was an even game, where he feels a draw was a fair result.
Both sides enjoyed spells of dominance throughout the match, Oisin McEntee put Hearts ahead in the first half and Hearts can feel regret over not doubling their lead. As the match wound down, Hearts looked to defend their lead and manage minutes ahead of a busy schedule, but the pressure they invited allowed for an equaliser from Nordsjælland midfielder Nicklas Røjkjær, albeit from a generous deflection.
The 1-1 draw leaves Nordsjælland 15th in the Conference League after the opening week and all things considered, they can be happy with a point at Tynecastle given Hearts’ impressive home record as of late.
During the post-match press conference, Olsen said: “As I see it and feel it right now, it’s a fair result looking over the 90 minutes.
“It was a tough start for us adapting to the game and the game picture we knew Hearts were going to try to make a strong start with the confidence and the strong start they have made recently. I think we looked quite good into it. I think the middle phase of the first half was quite even, going back and forth. I think it must’ve been quite entertaining to look at, and we have some big opportunities on offensive transitions- hitting the post and the last five, seven minutes (of the first-half) we were struggling, also after the goal. We could’ve been 2-0 down at half-time, I must admit that. But, I think we made some good decisions and some changes at half-time that helped the players and they managed to give it life, and it think it was ok that we took a point.”
It seems Olsen had done his homework on Hearts as when he was asked if anything about Hearts performance tonight surprised him, he said: “I just think they did quite a good performance and really made us struggle. I think not to take anything from them, we knew what they were coming at, but they are just good at it.”
He was then asked about Josh McPake in specific in light of another strong performance from the Scotland winger. In the lead up to the match, Olsen was full of praise for Hearts front four of Calvin Miller, Claudio Braga, Josh McPake and James Wilson, but also right-back Jordi Altena. Olsen said: “I think we had been focussing a bit on the front four, I think they were all good but of course on the left side, but also on the right side.
One of the players I mentioned (Jordi Altena) didn’t play today, the rotation they made over there (introducing Christian Borchgrevink to the starting XI) was giving us a hard time.
Nordsjælland will travel to second bottom side Lyngby Boldklub on Sunday, before hosting CSKA Sofia in the next round of the Conference League. As for Hearts, they travel to Celtic on Sunday in what is being billed as an emotional rematch of last season’s final day, before travelling to Türkiye on Thursday to face Mohammed Salah and Trabzonspor.
