Willem II played himself safe in the Eredivisie on Sunday. The team of trainer Zeljko Petrovic was 2-1 too strong for Fortuna Sittard in-house and thus kept FC Emmen, which simultaneously won 0-4 against the already relegated VVV-Venlo, under them: 31 for 30 points. The 3-0 defeat of RKC Waalwijk at Feyenoord means that Willem II will close the season in fourteenth. The club from Drenthe has now been sentenced as number sixteen to participate in the Kitchen Champion Play-offs. Fortuna still had a small chance of participating in the play-offs for European football, but Sparta won 1-2 against sc Heerenveen and secured eighth place.
Willem II was the much better team in the first twenty minutes. The predominance of the Petrovic team led to several opportunities, but not a deserved opening goal. A shot by Ché Nunnely was blocked, a shot by Kwasi Wriedt was slightly diverted and tapped next to by keeper Yanick van Osch, a shot by Mike Trésor went wide and Vangelis Pavlidis headed straight into the hands of Van Osch. Fortuna got a chance in the ninth minute when Zian Flemming flipped the ball over goalkeeper Aro Muric, but Sebastian Holmén saved the goal.
Petrovic’s team continued to search diligently for an opening goal. A shot by Sven van Beek from a distance was with difficulty by Van Osch and when Wriedt seemed to have a curving free kick in front of it, he missed the ball completely. On the stroke of half time the deserved 1-0 fell and also in an unparalleled way: Pavlidis slalom past four opponents and then the ball bounced beautifully over Van Osch.
Willem II started the second half with a lot of confidence, but it was Fortuna that quickly put the equalizer on the scoreboard. Sebastian Polter passed the ball to Flemming, who shot quickly and surprised Muric: 1-1. A big downer for the home team, which had already learned in the break that FC Emmen had taken a lead and that the competitor was further ahead in the second half.
The Petrovic team looked for the 2-1, but remained unhappy in the completion. Wriedt shot over hard and an artful attempt by Pavlidis ended up on the top of the bar. After 68 minutes the relief was palpable in Tilburg: Holmén shot the 2-1 in after a nice preparatory action by Nunnely. Willem II managed to pull the minimal lead over the line, although that was not always easy.
| No. | Team | M. | W. | G. | V. | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 34 | 28 | 4 | 2 | 79 | 88 |
| 2 | PSV | 34 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 39 | 72 |
| 3 | AZ | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 34 | 71 |
| 4 | Vitesse | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 61 |
| 5 | Feyenoord | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 28 | 59 |
| 6 | FC Utrecht | 34 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 53 |
| 7 | Fc Groningen | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 50 |
| 8 | Sparta Rotterdam | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 47 |
| 9 | Heracles Almelo | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | -11 | 44 |
| 10 | FC Twente | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 41 |
| 11 | Fortuna Sittard | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | -8 | 41 |
| 12 | sc Heerenveen | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | -6 | 39 |
| 13 | PEC Zwolle | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | -9 | 38 |
| 14 | Willem II | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | -28 | 31 |
| 15 | RKC Waalwijk | 34 | 7 | 9 | 18 | -22 | 30 |
| 16 | FC Emmen | 34 | 7 | 9 | 18 | -28 | 30 |
| 17 | VVV Venlo | 34 | 6 | 5 | 23 | -48 | 23 |
| 18 | Ado den Haag | 34 | 4 | 10 | 20 | -47 | 22 |