On Wednesday evening FC Volendam booked a tight victory in the Kitchen Champion Division. When visiting Almere City FC, Wim Jonk’s team already enjoyed a 1-2 lead at halftime, which was ultimately held until the final whistle. It was already the fourth loss in the last five matches for the club from Flevoland, which therefore failed to take advantage of the draw of competitor De Graafschap. Almere City occupies fourth place in the ranking with 53 points; Volendam is seventh with 44 points.
The opening phase of the February 12 make-up game, which was then canceled due to winter weather conditions, was extremely entertaining. It was the visitors who took the initiative and came close to the opening goal after five minutes. Ibrahim El Kadiri escaped the attention of the Almere defense and produced a dangerous shot, but goalkeeper Michael Woud was able to prevent a goal with his fists. Ten minutes later, however, the closing post of Almere City drew the short straw, when Brian Plat, after a wide pass from Alex Plat, found the bottom left corner with a dry bang of about 25 meters: 0-1. It was the first goal for Plat in the Volendam shirt.
Where Samuele Mulattieri, whose header went just wide, failed to double the margin halfway through the first half, it was hit on the other side a little later. Xian Emmers received a nice through ball in the sixteen-meter area and he pulled the ball in front of Tim Receveur, who found the roof of the goal with a convincing swipe: 1-1. With that, Receveur seemed to have put the halftime score on the scoreboard, but nothing turned out to be further from the truth. Just before half-time, Derry John Murkin got the leather back after a self-designed attack, after which he gave Mulattieri an unmissable chance with a cross tailored to his needs: 1-2.
After tea, Almere City explicitly went in search of the equalizer, although Ole Tobiasen’s team did not get further than a few pinpricks in the opening phase of the second company. Although Volendam was under considerable pressure until the final signal, Volendam also came out dangerous via Mulattieri, who was a toe length short to make the 1-3. Ultimately, Almere City was unable to score and the fourth loss in the last five games was a fact.
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
Click here for exclusive interviews, talent scouts, current positions and the program on our Kitchen Champion Division page.