FC Volendam suffered an ignominious defeat in its own stadium today. After a hell of a match, relegation rival Almere City turned out to be too strong with a 0-1 score.
FC Volendam had to suffer a major setback just before the first whistle. Josh Flint was injured during the warm-up, so Zach Booth had to start in the starting line-up.
The American winger from FC Volendam was immediately close to the opening goal in the 9th minute. Booth was attentive to a deep ball from the back, but found Almere City goalkeeper Nordin Bakker in his way when finishing. Less than three minutes later the ball was in at the other end. Thomas Robinet, after hesitant defending from the Volendam defense, scored the 0-1 from a low cross.
Too slow pace
FC Volendam therefore had to give chase early, but the ball tempo was far too slow to worry Almere City. Moreover, the visitors should have increased their lead halfway through the first half when Kornelius Hansen went alone to Mio Backhaus. Volendam’s goalkeeper barely prevented a second goal.
Around the half hour mark, FC Volendam finally presented itself dangerously in front of Bakker’s goal again. Bilal Ould-Chikh took a hard shot from the edge of the penalty area, but found the fists of the goalkeeper born in Oostknollendam. The score remained 0-1 for Almere City halfway through.
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FC Volendam came out of the dressing room weakly for the second half and saw Almere City almost draw the score at 0-2. Robinet was close to his second goal, but the striker’s header went narrowly wide. The team of the debuting Regillio Simons still played too phlegmatically after an hour of the game and so the coach decided to make a number of changes. Lequincio Zeefuik, Brian Plat and Luke Le Roux, among others, joined the team.
Flute concertos
Even with the introduction of fresh forces, the energy level remained questionably low. FC Volendam did not have a big chance in the last fifteen minutes, let alone a shot on target. The audience regularly treated the players to cynical applause, alternating with flute concerts. To their great dissatisfaction, the score remained 0-1.
Due to the defeat, FC Volendam drops to last place in the Premier League. Vitesse, which will play later today, has a better goal difference than FC Volendam.
FC Volendam line-up: Backhaus; Neighbor (Plat/63), Benamar, Mbuyamba, Mirani (Kuol/80), Cox; Twigt, De Haan, Booth (Le Roux/63); Ould-Chikh, Mühren (Zeefuik/63)