The curtain has fallen for ADO Den Haag. The team of trainer Ruud Brood experienced an extremely painful afternoon in their own stadium, where Willem II was too strong with 1-4. Because FC Emmen simultaneously won 3-1 against sc Heerenveen, the relegation of ADO to the Kitchen Champion Division is a fact. At the same time, Willem II tackles important points in the battle for direct enforcement. However, the Tilburg players still have to keep FC Emmen under them on the last day of play in order to avoid post-competition football. Willem II will receive a visit from Fortuna Sittard on Sunday, while FC Emmen will visit the already downgraded VVV-Venlo.
Zeljko Petrovic’s visit to his old club involved a high-voltage match. Where ADO suddenly dreamed of enforcement again after two victories in a row, Willem II saw the danger zone come closer and closer after two defeats. The first minutes in the Cars Jeans Stadium immediately resulted in fireworks. After Mike Trésor Ndayishimiye mowed over the ball, Kwasi Wriedt got the leather in front of him. His shot, however, missed direction and went straight for goalkeeper Martin Fraisl. On the other hand, John Goossens put the ball out of reach for Arijanet Muric with a shot from a distance, only he bounced out of the goal through the inside of the post.
Almost immediately afterwards the ball was in the net on the other side. ADO was unable to clear the ball, leaving Ndayishimiye on the left side of the field to give a cross. Vangelis Pavlidis extended the ball at the first post, leaving Fraisl without a chance. The visitors doubled the margin within half an hour. Wriedt hid Che Nunnely, after which the linesman’s flag initially went up. Almost exactly when referee Jochem Kamphuis seemed to whistle, Pavlidis shot the ball against the ropes at Nunnely’s instructions. It led to fierce protests on the side of ADO, because they believed that Kamphuis whistled before a goal was scored. The goal, however, remained: 0-2.
With 38 minutes left, ADO had a great opportunity to come back into the game. After interference from video referee Richard Martens, the ball hit the spot due to a foul by Sebastian Holmén on Jonas Arweiler. However, Nasser El Khayati’s attempt was turned back by Muric. To make matters worse for ADO, Willem II also scored 0-3 before half time. This time Pavlidis acted as principal, launched Wriedt and saw the German-Ghanaian striker make no mistake face to face with Fraisl.
Brood tried to make sure that his team would get back into the game quickly with some offensive conversions. However, ADO was not able to achieve great chances until Michiel Kramer scored 1-3 on the scoreboard with more than twenty minutes to play. However, ADO’s hopes did not exist for long. Shortly afterwards, Wriedt delivered a cross after an action inside the penalty area, which was headed against the ropes by Nunnely at the far post. A shot by Kramer on the post turned out to be ADO’s last convulsion, which will close its stay in the Eredivisie on Sunday with an away match against FC Twente.
| No. | Team | M. | W. | G. | V. | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 33 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 77 | 85 |
| 2 | PSV | 33 | 21 | 8 | 4 | 39 | 71 |
| 3 | AZ | 33 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 29 | 68 |
| 4 | Vitesse | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 61 |
| 5 | Feyenoord | 33 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 25 | 56 |
| 6 | FC Utrecht | 33 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 52 |
| 7 | Fc Groningen | 33 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 50 |
| 8 | Sparta Rotterdam | 33 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 44 |
| 9 | Heracles Almelo | 33 | 12 | 8 | 13 | -6 | 44 |
| 10 | Fortuna Sittard | 33 | 12 | 5 | 16 | -7 | 41 |
| 11 | sc Heerenveen | 33 | 9 | 12 | 12 | -5 | 39 |
| 12 | FC Twente | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | -3 | 38 |
| 13 | PEC Zwolle | 33 | 8 | 11 | 14 | -10 | 35 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 33 | 7 | 9 | 17 | -19 | 30 |
| 15 | Willem II | 33 | 7 | 7 | 19 | -29 | 28 |
| 16 | FC Emmen | 33 | 6 | 9 | 18 | -32 | 27 |
| 17 | VVV Venlo | 33 | 6 | 5 | 22 | -44 | 23 |
| 18 | Ado den Haag | 33 | 4 | 10 | 19 | -46 | 22 |