De Graafschap has won the third period title in the Kitchen Champion Division. The team of Mike Snoei seemed to get no further than a draw at Telstar on Friday evening, but in the final phase a 1-2 win, an admission ticket for the play-offs and a premium of approximately sixty thousand euros was enforced. A hard blow for NAC Breda, which had won the period title when, in addition to Go Ahead Eagles – SC Cambuur (0-0), the game in Velsen-Zuid had also ended undecided. De Graafschap, which is second in the ranking, is in any case full of direct promotion to the Eredivisie. The lead over number three Almere City FC is two points.
Telstar – De Graafschap 1-2
Snoei ‘s team started the game with enthusiasm and quickly took the lead. A distant throw by Toine van Huizen caused unrest for Telstar’s goal. Ralf Seuntjens did not get the ball past goalkeeper Jasper Schendelaar, but Ted van de Pavert headed in the rebound: 0-1. De Graafschap had the game under control, although Telstar insisted more in the last fifteen minutes. A few minutes after a header from Redouan El Yaakoubi on the post, Cas Dijkstra signed for the 1-1 on a pass from Gyliano van Velzen.
After an hour of play, De Graafschap was close to scoring a second goal. Schendelaar tapped a ball by Elmo Lieftink and after the subsequent corner kick, Lieftink did not hit the ball well. Ten minutes before time, Schendelaar prevented a goal from Julian Lelieveld with a stylish save. The winning goal appeared on the scoreboard a few minutes later thanks to a striking header from Jasper van Heertum.
Go Ahead Eagles 0-0 SC Cambuur
Despite a few good chances in an entertaining first half, the teams of Kees van Wonderen and Henk de Jong went into halftime with a scoreless score. Go Ahead struggled in the opening phase, in which goalkeeper Jay Gorter prevented goals from Robin Maulun (free kick) and Ragnar Oratmangoen (shot). The home team then showed itself more and was close to an opening goal via Jacob Mulenga, Boyd Lucassen and Antoine Rabillard. Just before half time, the home team received the good news about Telstar’s equalizer against De Graafschap.
At GA Eagles, the forces slowly but surely faded in the second half. The ball was for Cambuur and the leader also got the best chance of a goal via Mees Hoedemakers. Gorter whipped a hard ball out of the goal with a clever reflex. Gorter also got in the way of an attempt by Oratmangoen.
NAC Breda – Helmond Sport 2-2
In the search for the period title, Maurice Steijn’s team could not count on the cooperation of Helmond Sport, which took the lead even before the sixth minute of play had expired. Karim Loukili gratefully benefited from a misunderstanding in the Breda rearguard, after which it was a breeze for the wing attacker to finish: 0-1. NAC immediately counterattacked, but the equalizer failed to materialize in the first half. Mario Bilate thought he would level the score with a header from a cross by Thom Haye. Via the bottom of the crossbar, the ball seemed to bounce back into the field from behind the goal line, but in the absence of a video referee, referee Martijn Vos gave the disadvantage of the doubt to Bilate: no hit.
Mario Bilate seems to put NAC Breda on the same level here. The arbitration sees no goal in this .. ??
# ?? #nachel
?? ESPN 4 pic.twitter.com/VPLRHtdtWo– ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) March 12, 2021
The score was leveled four minutes after the break, when the home team tightened the thumbscrews and Lex Immers slid in from a cross by Michaël Maria: 1-1. NAC could not hold out for long, however, as Arno Van Keilegom found the top left corner six minutes later with a shot, which was changed direction by Immers, from the edge of the box: 1-2. NAC also had an answer to that goal: Mounir El Allouchi coolly shot the 2-2 on the scoreboard after a nice deep pass by Dion Malone. Helmond Sport came close to victory when goalkeeper Nick Olij tapped a pinball from Jordy Thomassen on the crossbar, but in the end NAC pulled the longest straw. Bilate put the winning goal behind his name, although the team, due to the victory of De Graafschap, still grabbed the period title.
Roda JC Kerkrade – Jong Ajax 2-2
Although the first act of the meeting in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium was no feast for the neutral spectator, Roda JC managed to open the score immediately after half time. Dylan Vente made it to the back line on the right side of the field and he had a good cross on Erik Falkenburg, who finished cool-blooded: 1-0. After an hour of play, the margin was doubled; this time Vente itself acted as the end station of a nice attack: 2-0. With that, the game seemed over, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the final phase, Jong Ajax managed to come alongside in a time frame of two minutes. First it was Neraysho Kasanwirjo who hit the target from a penalty kick, which was awarded after a foul by Stefano Marzo on Terrence Douglas. The 2-2 fell in the 83rd minute, when Enric Llansana nodded in from a corner kick by Alex Méndez. Young Ajax has failed to win for the sixteenth time in the last eighteen matches.
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