The Brabant derby in the Kitchen Champion Division between TOP Oss and Helmond Sport did not yield a winner on Friday evening. The home team had the best opportunities to end a series of eleven games in a row without a win, but failed to do so: 0-0. Most of the tension took place outside the lines. Prior to the game, the riot police raided the TOP Oss supporters’ home after ‘a serious threat’ and ‘disruptions to public order’. There were also confrontations between the two groups during the game, the reported Brabants Dagblad.
“It was reported to me that there was a serious threat”, TOP Oss director Peter Bijvelds said. “That means that the police will designate a security risk area outside the stadium, in which they have more powers, because there are indications that, among other things, heavy fireworks would be brought in. They want to search because there is a suspicion of heavy fireworks, and that would also have been bought in the area,” said the director. However, the fireworks at the start of the game came from the profession with the Helmond supporters who had traveled with them.
The duel between Oss and Helmond meant a real relegation cracker with nineteenth and seventeenth place in the ranking respectively. The first chances of the game only came about halfway through the first half, when Dean van der Sluijs fired on the visitors’ goal. However, the defender shot high. On the other hand, Kevin Bukusu had a head-turning opportunity to open the score on behalf of Helmond, but the centre-back didn’t have his sights set on him and couldn’t get his bet between the posts.
TOP Oss also had the best chances in the second half. Richonell Margaret tried to pass goalkeeper Mike Havekotte with a long shot, but was unable to do so. Not much later, Helmond’s goalie had to come into action again, when Sekou Sylla steamed up and forced the goalkeeper to make a save. Helmond was under considerable pressure in the first quarter of the second half, but could thank Havekotte that the team did not succumb. When the biggest chance of the second half was not captured by Margaret in the final minute, the points division was a fact.
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