Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 10:49 PM• Chris Meijer • Last update: 22:54

Michiel Kramer gave RKC Waalwijk a victory over his former club Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday evening. One minute before the end, the striker scored the only goal in the game, which was a 1-0 victory for the Waalwijkers. It means that RKC takes some distance from the relegation zone and rises to twelfth place in the Eredivisie, while Sparta now has three points less and occupies the penultimate place in the ranking.

The starting line-up of Sparta with Laurent Jans and Mica Pinto was unique, because never before have two Luxembourgers kicked off in an Eredivisie match. RKC and Sparta both had seven points prior to the meeting in the Mandemakers Stadium and the differences were small in the first half. After half an hour of play, RKC’s first real chance came when Jens Odgaard put goalkeeper Maduka Okoye to the test. His colleague Etienne Vaessen was an obstacle for Vito van Crooij shortly before the break.

Sparta was also close to scoring early in the second half. Lennart Thy headed just wide on Jans’s pass. As the match progressed after the break, RKC increasingly reported themselves in the hostile penalty area. Michiel Kramer in particular proved productive there, although the ball was unable to get the ball between the posts three times. Iliass Bel Hassani also appeared in Sparta’s sixteen, but Jans thwarted an attack by the attacking midfielder.

With ten minutes left on the clock, Sparta suddenly had a life-size opportunity to open the score. Thy put substitute Mario Engels face to face with Vaessen and the German striker passed the RKC goalkeeper with a marker, but saw his effort bounce off the wrong side of the post. The winning goal eventually fell on the other side. Bel Hassani produced a measured cross after a nice play, which Kramer headed against Okoye at the far post.