It was the year of mixed feelings at amateur club OFC. In June of this year, the Oostzaners captured the championship in the third division on the last day of play. Six months later, the world looks very different and OFC is the last player in the second division. “2022 was a special and challenging year,” says trainer Pieter Mulders.
“Maybe OFC is the FC Volendam of the second division. We performed excellently, but since the promotion we have had a hard time”, Mulders compares. The trainer refers to the convincing championship that was achieved before the summer and the lesser results that resulted from the promotion. In that respect, Volendam is in the same boat after the promotion to the premier league.
Despite the current less favorable period, Mulders likes to think back to June 5 of this year. On the final day of the competition, OFC became champion of the third division in a crazy way. The North Hollanders no longer had the championship in their own hands. OFC had to win at home against HV Quick and title competitor Hercules had to lose points against ADO’20.
Twelve minutes of stoppage time
“I remember that I deliberately let our game start later. Then we could keep an eye on what was happening on the other field”, Mulders looks back. Despite the good preparations, things turned out very differently. OFC easily put Quick aside 3-0, but in Hercules’ match against ADO’20, the referee gave twelve minutes of stoppage time.
“I didn’t have this event on my CV yet”
Mulders: “We were waiting with the whole club at our center spot to see what was happening on the other field. We had almost given up hope for the title, but then we heard that ADO’20 scored the equalizer in the eighth minute of injury time “The scale went to us. I didn’t have this event on my resume. It’s the most special moment of my football career.”
International experience
After the championship, OFC will play in the second division. The club was actively looking for reinforcements and with the arrival of Fernando Lewis and Daniel Agyei, among others, a lot of (inter)national experience was added to the team.
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Five-time international Daniel Agyei is now goalkeeper of OFC – NH Sport / Martijn Kramer
“By attracting new players, we wanted to build in more security. The PhD student is often also the biggest candidate for relegation,” says Mulders. Despite the necessary reinforcements, it was not easy for OFC. “Fernando Lewis, Joël Amakodo and Niels Springer were seriously injured. Those were the guys we wanted to take steps with as a club.”
Reviving
Despite a difficult start, Mulders sees that his team is gradually starting to collect more and more points. Still, the challenge seems more difficult than expected. “I have quite a bit of experience in the second division and it strikes me that the level has risen enormously. Many players who just didn’t make it in professional football want to revive their career in the second division. That doesn’t make it any easier to win games.”
“It won’t be easy to maintain, but we won’t give up.”
OFC is currently the bottom of the league with ten points from eighteen games. “It will not be easy to maintain ourselves, but we will not give up. There are many hijackers on the coast, but we have taken many points in a series of games before the winter break. We now want to continue that line.”
OFC will resume the competition on Sunday 22 January. Then the Zaankanters will play an away match against TEC from Tiel.
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