Friday, October 22, 2021 at 9:59 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 22:04

FC Volendam has retained the lead in the Kitchen Champion Division. On a visit to Jong AZ, the coach’s team won with minimal figures: 0-1. At the same time, the closest pursuers, Excelsior and De Graafschap, have also booked victories in their respective matches. The team from Rotterdam was 0-2 too strong for ADO Den Haag, while De Graafschap won against VVV-Venlo: 1-2. Volendam leads with 27 points from twelve matches; Excelsior follows with 25 points, while the Doetinchemmers complete the top three with 23 points.

ADO The Hague – Excelsior 0-2
The presence of Ricardo Kishna was striking, who played his last game for ADO in April 2021 against Fortuna Sittard. The winger made his comeback after more than an hour of playing as a substitute. In the opening phase of the match Excelsior became dangerous twice. For example, goalkeeper Luuk Koopmans had to take action on a shot by Mats Wieffer and a shot by Marouan Azarkan narrowly nipped in the bud. From the twentieth minute of play, ADO took over the initiative in the match, but the increased attacking spirit did not yield a goal. Excelsior did score in the second half. Modeste Duku had a sharp cross from the right, after which Jamal Amofa unfortunately slipped the ball into his own goal. The home side increased the pressure for the remainder of the game, but in the end Redouan el Yaakoubi made the decision in the 82nd minute.

Young AZ – FC Volendam 0-1
From the first whistle, the Volendam team showed that there was nothing to be gained from the promises of AZ. Robert Mühren (shot blocked) and Alex Plat (rescue) among others immediately caused a lot of danger, but Jong AZ held out. Halfway through the first act, a great opportunity was destroyed by Daryl van Mieghem, who had the ball for tapping after a pass from Mühren but saw his bet blocked. It was a miracle that the scoreboard hadn’t moved halfway through. After an hour of play, Volendam found the long-awaited opening goal. Boy Deul had a nice individual action and home and sent Van Mieghem into the deep. The left winger made up for his missed opportunities from the first act and finished off in a cool way. Several attempts were made to extend the advantage margin, but the home side limited the damage.

VVV Venlo – De Graafschap 1-2
The duel in Venlo started with a wonderful tribute to Nick Groot Bruinderink (32) from Didam, who died much too young. The De Graafschap supporter died last Sunday as a result of a fatal traffic accident. There was only a cheer in De Koel after the break, first of all by the home team. After losing the ball at De Graafschap, Sven Braken was there like the chickens to put the leather placed past Hidde Jurjus in the goal. The visitors then fought their way back into the game and soon came alongside via Giovanni Korte, who scored the equalizer with a devastating swipe: 1-1. De Graafschap continued in that phase of the game and quickly signed for the 1-2 via Jesse Schuurman. The midfielder’s shot in the left corner proved sufficient for the victory.

NAC Breda – MVV Maastricht 3-0
The game between NAC and MVV started ten minutes later on Friday evening, partly because supporters buses from the Limburgers were brought to Willem II’s stadium. A misunderstanding, the Tilburg police wrote on Twitter. Once started, NAC turned out to be a few sizes too big for MVV. The score was opened after fifteen minutes by Ralf Seuntjens, who extended a pass from Tom Haye. Barely three minutes later, the score was already doubled, when Vieri Kotzebue made his first for the team from Breda with a knock at the far post. MVV didn’t stand a chance and had to see how the final score was determined at 3-0. Boris van Schuppen gave the final push after good preparatory work by Pjotr ​​Kestens.

Almere City – Young PSV 3-5
It went back and forth during the first half in the Yanmar Stadium. On a pass from Maarten Pouwels, Ilias Alhaft made it 1-0 after eleven minutes, but Gertjan Verbeek’s team could not enjoy it for long. After a great move, Johan Bakayoko put Michael Woud on the wrong foot with a shot into the short corner and tied the score. Not much later, Pouwels headlined the Black Sheep again ahead; Ismael Saibari tied the score again with a nice team goal. Shortly after the break, Dante Sealy put the visitors in the lead, and the same Sealy also made it 2-4 and 2-5: a flawless hat trick. Just before time, Pouwels did something back from a penalty kick.

Young FC Utrecht – TOP Oss 2-1
After ten minutes of play, Jan Lammers thought he would put the visitors ahead, but his goal was disallowed due to offside. On the other hand, it was in the 21st minute: Rayan El Azrak was the one who opened the score. A handball from Yuya Ikeshita and a subsequent penalty in the second half led to Kay Tejan’s equalizing goal; at first Justin Mathieu still missed, but the rebound was for his teammate. The Ossenaren went in search of the victory and therefore felt robbed when it was Utrecht that made the goal. Nick Venema was the maker and shot his team to eighth place.

Telstar – Helmond Sport 2-2
A nice long shot by Anwar Bensabouh gave the home team the lead; moments later, Cas Dijkstra doubled the margin by hitting the ball through a Helmond’s leg. Jellert van Landschoot brought the tension back before the break with his sixth season goal. It was unclear for a long time where the match would go, until after 72 minutes Jelle Goselink shot the 2-2 against the ropes after good preparatory work by Boyd Reith. There was no change in that score, which made little progress for both teams.

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