Willem II has suffered a heavy blow in the battle for the championship. The Tilburg team lost at home to competitor Roda JC. The score was 2-3 for the Limburgers. Willem II remains first in the rankings, but the gap with Roda JC has shrunk to four points.
Freek Heerkens knows what it is to become a champion. The 34-year-old defender was there in the 2013/2014 season when Willem II won the title in the then Jupiler League. Now ten years later, the Brabander is still part of the selection. On Friday evening he was allowed to start again in the starting line-up as a replacement for the suspended Raffael Behounek.
In the intervening years, Heerkens experienced a lot with Willem II. He played a cup final and European football, but the Tilburg team were also relegated from the Eredivisie. The defender from Heeswijk-Dinther hopes to be able to play again in a few months. However, the title battle is open again due to the defeat against Roda JC.
“This defeat is very sad. After an unfortunate goal, we scored two good goals in the first half, but forgot to score the third. That would have been a good balance of the match.”
“The late 2-3 was very annoying.”
“In the second half we put less pressure on Roda JC’s build-up. We were not decisive enough defensively and we didn’t bring enough offensively. With fresh forces in the team and the support of the crowd, we went for the third goal, but he did not fall. The fact that we conceded 2-3 in the final phase was of course very annoying.”
“We must not let ourselves be misled.”
The competition still has eleven matches left, so it can still be quite exciting. “We took to the field as a team to win. If we had won, we would have done well in the title race. However, we should not let this defeat discourage us. We will pick up the thread again next week.”
Heerkens was not entirely satisfied with his own performance. “It’s always nice to be on the field, but when you lose you have a bad feeling. I have done a number of things well, but also things that I am absolutely not satisfied with. I will work on that.”
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