AALBORG, DENMARK - In a complete reversal of Thursday's UEFA Cup game against Tottenham, where a sensational 2-0 halftime lead turned into a 3-2 loss, Aalborg BK made a miraculous comeback on Sunday afternoon at Aalborg Stadion by coming from three down to defeat cellar dwellers Lyngby BK 5-3 in front of 5,264 spectators.

Captain Danny Califf made another decent account of himself at both ends of the field. Two headers came close for the Californian, but he was the man behind the penalty kick that gave Lyngby their third.

Califf had the first chance of the game when he put his head to a third minute corner from Martin Pedersen on the right, but the attempt went over the bar.

Two minutes later, however, Lyngby capitalized on their first chance. A wide open Mikkel Beckmann received the ball in the penalty area, but mistimed his first touch. Beckmann regained control of the ball and sent it back to the edge of the box to Morten Christiansen, who sent it flat into the right corner.

"They played a good ball behind Allan (Olesen) into the six-yard box and split one to the penalty spot," Califf recalled to American Soccer Daily after the game. "He had a pretty good look and finished it."

After the goal, the game went into a 15-minute drought with little in the way of entertainment and nothing in the way of chances. AaB had most of the possession, but could not produce anything resembling the play that had Tottenham mesmerized for 45 minutes on Thursday.

The 20th minute, however, saw chances at both ends of the field. First, Christiansen tried his luck from outside the box with a shot that went straight at AaB keeper Karim Zaza.

Seconds later, Rade Prica had a shot saved by Thomas Seidelin. Siyabonga Nomvethe's rebound attempt was blocked in defense before Prica received the ball again, turned quickly and forced Seidelin to save with his legs.

After this brief rise in excitement, the game fell into another lull. AaB still had most of the possession but still could not produce the necessary chances.

With 12 minutes left of the half, Prica received the ball near the baseline, backtracked into the penalty area before shooting flat but again Seidelin made the save.

Instead, it was 2-0 two minutes later when Kim Aabech made a move infield before firing from the edge of the penalty area into the top right corner with no chance for Zaza.

"He got the ball 20 meters out, took a touch inside to his right foot and buried it in the corner with his left foot," said Califf. "It was a great effort with the opposite foot."

Only two more minutes passed before Aabech was sent into the area, where Michael Jakobsen missed his tackle. Califf's attempt resulted in a dubious penalty and a yellow card for the captain as Beckmann executed coolly from the spot.

"The ball was played through and Michael stopped it initially and then slipped," Califf said. "I slid and got the ball and a part of him - he went for it and the ref called the penalty."

"I haven't seen the replay. I know I got the ball, but I got a piece of him too."

Down 3-0, not much was pointing to an AaB victory, but the last minutes of the half were played in Lyngby's end. Jakobsen sent a long diagonal pass into the area in the 41st minute. Jeppe Curth put his head to it, but Seidelin managed to divert it just over.

Only a minute later, Nomvethe tried his luck from 20 yards, but his attempt was straight at the Lyngby keeper.

In the 45th minute, however, the home fans finally had something to cheer about when Kasper Risgård sent Andreas Johansson clean through with his heel and the Sweden international sent it into the bottom right corner.

The Aalborg players headed for the dressing room with some basis for optimism, but a well-deserved talking to from coach Erik Hamrén was unavoidable.

"It wasn't very pretty," Califf told ASD. "I think it accomplished what it was meant to do. It lit a fire under our asses and we came out a completely different side from top to bottom. We were working harder and closing people down."

Hamrén also used the break to make a substitution. Midfielder Thomas Enevoldsen, who scored the shock opener against Tottenham, replaced Thomas Augustinussen and it would not take him long to find the goal once again.

An unmarked Curth on the right flank had plenty of time in the second minute out of intermission to make the cross and Enevoldsen's header sailed over Seidelin, reducing the lead to a goal.

Two minutes later, Prica made a cross from the left and found Califf, but the captain's header was caught one-handed by Seidelin.

Enevoldsen took a chance in the 52nd minute with a shot from the edge of the box. Seidelin made the save, but Curth was first to the rebound and made an easy tap-in for the equalizer.

The Lyngby goal had turned into a shooting gallery. Three minutes after the equalizer, Nomvethe latched onto a free kick from Jakobsen, but his volley went wide.

Only a minute later, Prica tried his luck from a tight angle on the left, but Seidelin sent it back out into the area. It fell to Nomvethe on the edge, but again, his attempt went just wide.

At the hour mark, the seemingly impossible became reality when Prica sent Curth through on goal to score his second of the game, and AaB had turned a three-goal deficit into a 4-3 lead.

Lyngby were rare guests at Aalborg's end in the second half. Beckmann made a cross to Aabech in the 66th minute, but the attempt went straight at Zaza.

Ten minutes later, Johansson raided up the middle and fired from the edge of the box, but the ball went just past the right post.

A minute later, however, Michael Jakobsen played a seemingly harmless ball forward on Lyngby's half. Substitute Marc Møller missed the clearance, sending Prica clean through and the Swede nonchalantly lobbed it over Seidelin to make it 5-3.

The remaining 15 minutes were played at a somewhat slower pace. Scattered chances, mainly at Lyngby's end, prevented it from becoming tedious, but none of them threatened to alter the scoreline.

"We underestimated them, and they came at us with a lot and we were passive all over the field," Califf said of the first 45 after the game. "We never stopped anybody, we gave them the ball and they were countering. It was just not good all over the field."

"We created quite a few chances but we were going forward with no regard for what was happening behind us. It absolutely was not a good first half."

"As bad as the first half was, the second was 200% better. We played with an urgency. We weren't losing silly balls in the middle. We were playing with concentration. We didn't give them any time to serve good balls. We tightened the screws and didn't let them have anything."

With FC Copenhagen only managing a 1-1 draw against Brøndby, Aalborg BK will spend the winter break in first place.

"We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in the first half of season in the SAS Liga and I think we have done well," Califf reflected. "We have won when we needed to win. It certainly hasn't been pretty a lot of matches, but I think that's a sign of quality that you can find a way to win even when it's not going your way."

The SAS Liga kicks off again on March 16th, but before they can enjoy the break, AaB have difficult UEFA Cup tasks against Spanish side Getafe and Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel with a friendly against FC Copenhagen in between.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Jeppe Curth
#2 Martin Pedersen
#3 Thomas Enevoldsen

Scoring
LBK - Morten Christiansen 2 (Mikkel Beckmann) 4'
LBK - Kim Aabech 3 (Mads Thomsen) 35'
LBK - Mikkel Beckmann 4 (Penalty) 37'
AAB - Andreas Johansson 5 (Kasper Risgård) 45'
AAB - Thomas Enevoldsen 1 (Jeppe Curth) 47'
AAB - Jeppe Curth 9 52'
AAB - Jeppe Curth 10 (Rade Prica) 61'
AAB - Rade Prica 9 (Michael Jakobsen) 78'

Line-ups
AAB - Karim Zaza; Michael Jakobsen, Martin Pedersen (Steve Olfers 79'), Danny Califf, Andreas Johansson, Thomas Augustinussen (Thomas Enevoldsen 46'), Rade Prica, Jeppe Curth, Siyabonga Nomvethe (Mattias Lindström 68'), Allan Olesen, Kasper Risgård

LYN - Thomas Seidelin; Alexander Fischer (Marc Møller 55'), Jakob Bresemann, Morten Petersen, Morten Christiansen, Kim Aabech, Allan Nielsen (Christian Holst 63'), Nicolai Melchiorsen (Andreas Bjelland 54'), Mikkel Beckmann, Mads Thomsen, Brian Hamalainen