Neestrup: A solid win at FCN

Jacob Neestrup says Sunday's 1-0 victory over FC Nordsjælland was thoroughly deserved as the Lions moved back to the top of the Danish Superliga.

Amin Chiakha headed home the winner midway through the second half following a well-worked free-kick routine that saw Gabriel Pereira head across goal for the youngster.

And Neestrup praised his team for delivering the gameplan to perfection.

"It was important to win a game with few chances like this, where we were very solid and showed great efficiency by scoring on the one big chance we created," says the head coach.

"It even came after a perfect set-piece that Jens Berthel Askou and the players had set up really well. Otherwise it was a very close game, but I think we deserved to take home the three points.

"We achieved a lot of what we wanted to do, except for our finishing when we were in an established attack. But we were again rock solid in defence and kept them away from chances. They didn't have many dangerous attacks either."

The win moves FCK two points ahead of FC Midtjylland in the Danish title race, with eight games of the season remaining.

"It's a difficult place to play here, against a skilled team that is tactically complex and has caused us many challenges in recent years on the artificial turf," adds Neestrup.

"We don't have to go back any further than the autumn, when we were 3-0 behind after half an hour, but we chose the 3-4-3 formation, which we have also had success with on the artificial pitch in Silkeborg. The players know it very well after we also played this way against Chelsea.

"The fact that we didn't create many chances today has nothing to do with the formation, because 3-4-3 is no more defensive than 4-4-2, where we have also had games where we haven't created enough. And we have also had many games where we have waded into chances without being able to take advantage of them, so it was great to see that we were effective today and got the three points.

"Of course, it is always more fun to be top of the table than second, but we have great respect for the teams behind us, and we also saw in recent seasons how things can change quickly.

"But now we are looking forward to next Sunday's derby (against Brøndby). We always look forward to Scandinavia's biggest match in a packed Parken, where we can hopefully play well for our fans, as we did in the recent derby in Parken."