Go Ahead Eagles booked a simple victory in the Kitchen Champion Division on Saturday evening. In-house, the team of trainer Kees van Wonderen was 3-0 too strong for Almere City FC. The defeat of the Almers will certainly also be celebrated in Leeuwarden, as SC Cambuur has now been officially promoted to the Eredivisie. Both Almere City and NAC Breda are stuck at 67 points, so that the gap with Cambuur (82 points) can no longer be closed.
The home team started convincingly at the meeting at the Adelaarshorst, where Jakob Mulenga already caused the first danger of the game after seven minutes of play. The striker fired on the enemy goal from within the sixteen-meter area, but goalkeeper Michael Woud tapped the bet over the back line via the post. Moments later, Almere City also contributed, when Radinio Balker saw a header from a corner just wide of the goal.
The opening goal was found halfway through the first half. Luuk Brouwers delivered the ball to Martijn Berden, who beat the Almere defense at speed and finished cool-blooded: 1-0. From the kick-off that followed, the visitors immediately went in search of the equalizer, but Thomas Verheydt lacked sharpness for the hostile goal. Ten minutes before half time, the club top scorer of Almere City came into scoring position again. Mees Kaandorp delivered a measured cross to Verheydt, who headed just over the bar.
In the second act, Go Ahead walked further away. It was a foul on Giannis Botos in the box that made referee Bas Nijhuis decide to award a penalty to Go Ahead. Sam Beukema took his responsibility and convincingly used the opportunity from eleven meters: 2-0. The game was closed three minutes before the end of regular time. It was Sam Hendriks who put the 3-0 final score on the scoreboard on a pass from Brouwers.
Almere City’s loss of points is also good news for De Graafschap. Mike Snoei ‘s team currently occupies second place and can lead to a six-point lead on number three NAC Breda and number four Almere City on Monday with a win over Young PSV, both of which have 67 points. Go Ahead occupies fifth place in the ranking with 65 points. The first two clubs are promoted to the Eredivisie.
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