Sparta Rotterdam continues to look up in the Eredivisie. Henk Fraser’s team was 2-0 too strong for the home crowd on Saturday for the worst performing Eredivisie team of this calendar year, VVV-Venlo. It was already the fourth victory for Sparta in the last six league matches and participation in the play-offs remains a realistic prospect. For VVV it was already the eleventh league defeat in a row. If FC Emmen wins against Heracles Almelo on Sunday, the Veloners are in the dreaded seventeenth place.
The number of highlights in the first half in Rotterdam-West could be counted on one hand. Sparta and VVV are teams this season that barely have or want to be on the ball and the attempts at goal also lacked precision or power. Thorsten Kirschbaum did not panic from attempts by Abdou Harraoui, Lennart Thy and Sven Mijnans, while the VVV attackers were well caught by the Sparta defenders. Georgios Giakoumakis was missing due to a suspension with the North Limburgers.
The two thousand fans in Het Kasteel were allowed to cheer a few minutes before the break. A shot by Laros Duarte was diverted by Tristan Dekker, after which Kirschbaum had no chance: 1-0. Sparta has already scored nine times from outside the penalty area this Eredivisie season. Only PSV, Feyenoord (both twelve), Vitesse and AZ (both eleven) also did this at least nine times.
In the first twenty minutes of the second half, the teams were more evenly matched, partly because Zinedine Machach’s entrance had a positive effect. A good chance for a header by Tom Beugelsdijk, and a ditto save by Kirschbaum, preceded the 2-0. Bryan Smeets, captain today in the absence of Adil Auassar, was able to tap in an excellent cross from Harroui at the far post.
Sparta awaits an away game against number six FC Groningen in a week, which after Saturday’s home defeat against PSV (0-1) has nine points more than the team from Rotterdam. VVV hopes that Heracles, which is also in the race for the play-offs, will win in and against Emmen on Sunday. The team of trainer Jos Luhukay will play in Almelo in a week.
VVV’s last victory was on January 27 (4-1 against Vitesse). This was followed by eleven defeats in the Eredivisie. The negative club record was ten games in a row at the end of the 1978/79 season and the start of the 1985/86 season.
| No. | Team | M. | W. | G. | V. | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 29 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 66 | 73 |
| 2 | PSV | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 64 |
| 3 | AZ | 29 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 28 | 61 |
| 4 | Vitesse | 29 | 17 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 56 |
| 5 | Feyenoord | 29 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 29 | 54 |
| 6 | Fc Groningen | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 46 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 29 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 44 |
| 8 | Heracles Almelo | 29 | 11 | 6 | 12 | -8 | 39 |
| 9 | FC Twente | 29 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 37 |
| 10 | sc Heerenveen | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | -3 | 37 |
| 11 | Sparta Rotterdam | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | -4 | 37 |
| 12 | PEC Zwolle | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | -6 | 35 |
| 13 | Fortuna Sittard | 29 | 10 | 4 | 15 | -12 | 34 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | -18 | 26 |
| 15 | Willem II | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | -29 | 25 |
| 16 | VVV Venlo | 30 | 6 | 4 | 20 | -38 | 22 |
| 17 | FC Emmen | 29 | 4 | 9 | 16 | -28 | 21 |
| 18 | Ado den Haag | 29 | 2 | 10 | 17 | -42 | 16 |