FC Midtjylland, who were without coach Mike Tullberg, who was nursing a case of the flu, moved within two points of Danish Superliga league leaders AGF when they came away from Odense with a 4-1 win, mainly thanks to a superb first half.
The visitors began their first half goal show already after three minutes when Phillip Billing stole the ball from Adam Sorensen, drove into the box and slotted the ball coolly past Odense goalkeeper Viljar Myhra.
Just five minutes later, Tullberg's outfit doubled the lead when Junior Brumado scored the first goal of his hat trick as he converted a penalty after Nicolas Bürgy was adjudged to have handled the ball from a Midtjylland attempt on goal inside his own box.
Brumado then finished off a slick move from the visitors after 20 minutes when he was left unmarked to head home a prolific delivery from Dario Osorio to leave FC Midtjylland in solid control.
Odense head coach Alexander Zorniger reacted after half an hour of play by taking Adam Sorensen off in favor of Yaya Bojang.
The substitution did not have the desired effect as bad turned to worse for the home side six minutes before the interval when Brumado completed his hat trick to make it 4-0.
Much to the credit of the home side, they never gave up and were rewarded for their tenacity after around an hour's play when Jay-Roy Grot reduced the deficit when a fortunate delivery from Jona Niemiec fell at his feet.
OB had chances to bring further excitement into the game, especially after Martin Erlic was sent off with ten minutes to go for pulling down Niemiec as the last defender. However, the visitors managed to hold on to three vital points.
