FC Emmen coach Dick Lukkien saw his team have control and get the best chances against a good team, but in the end had to settle for a point after the game against SC Heerenveen: 0-0.
“Based on the proportions, we deserved a win,” Lukkien looks back. “I thought it was admirable to see how we worked together.”
After four losses, confidence at the Drenthe club is fragile, Lukkien also acknowledges, and so it must be rebuilt with results. “Then you actually hope as a trainer that the quality is higher, because I thought we really had more opportunities on the ball. But maybe you can’t expect that after four lost games.”
“We’ve been talking all week about the knitting match against the Eagles,” the trainer continues. “We can play football well, but it should not become a goal in itself. We wanted to play quickly and directly forward against SC Heerenveen. I saw that again tonight. At times even too direct, because if you have a man left in the midfield you have to look for it.”
Lukkien calls the result against the Frisians a point with perspective. “Sometimes you also have to feel that a point is the maximum. Then you have to keep pushing. We also did that with Keziah Veendorp’s great pass to Rui Mendes, for example. But we no longer attacked naively and then you get a point .”
The trainer’s conclusion was therefore: “If you can bring this against a good team, then this is the basis. Then it can only get better.”