Penalty miss Zomer keeps the top match between HZVV and Oranje Nassau in balance

When Alex Zomer lines up behind a penalty kick it’s usually bingo. But this time, at a crucial moment, HZVV’s central defender failed to yield from the penalty spot. Erwin Heidekamp stopped the poorly shot ball and crowned himself man of the match with his save. It was a case of justice. The fall of lightweight Jens van Rooijen, which referee Sam Tyler saw as a penalty, was not worth it.

Zomer was visibly disappointed by his miss in the 57th minute. “It was a present from the referee, but you have to unwrap presents and then it would have been 1-0 and we would have won 3-0 or something like that. I wanted to shoot the ball into the top right corner, but I hit it wrong. If we get another penalty, I will take it again and then I will save it.”

A little further away, Heidekamp was beaming from ear to ear. “Summer often shoots a penalty into the right corner. I went all out to that corner. A penalty killer? I? No.” Laughing: “They sometimes call me Cillessen.” Jasper Cillessen, the former goalkeeper of the Dutch team and the current goalkeeper of NEC, is known that he almost never scores a penalty.

Even after Zomer’s eleven-meter miss, HZVV still had a number of opportunities to force HZVV to its knees. The best went to Tom Simons, who was maneuvered into a great scoring position by Yoran Popovic, but the substitute blasted the ball wildly over Heidekamp’s goal. Moments later, Popovic saw an effort blocked by Jim de Leeuw, after which Gabriel Fernando also fired wildly and too high on the rebound.

“We had four or five big chances,” HZVV coach Bram Freie noted. “We were equal in the first half, the two were ours. We almost only played in their half. We could have made a big difference today.”

Five points behind

HZVV is five points behind leader Oranje Nassau, but has played two games less than the Groningen team. In the exciting first division J, WVV and DZOH also have championship chances.

Erin Heerlijn, Freie’s colleague from Oranje Nassau, cherished the point (‘a nice point’) with which his team had won. “I thought we had a slight field dominance before half time, but in the second half the game slipped out of our hands. In the end we have to be happy with the draw.”

Entertaining, but not spectacular

The match between the teams with the fewest losing points was entertaining, but not spectacular. Not enough happened, especially in the first half, for the goals. The most excitement arose after a penalty given by Tyler to the Oranje Nassau. Linesman Martijn Brondijk prevented the Groningers from unpacking a present. He pointed out to ‘his boss’ that the ball had bounced off Jan Hup’s foot against his hand, after which the referee reversed his decision.

HZVV-Oranje Nassau was not the match for both club top scorers. Peter van Son (12 goals) from Oranje Nassau had his best moment halfway through the second half, but saw his shot blocked by Fernando. Hardly anything was heard from Sander Dzemidzic (13 goals). It wasn’t the attackers’ game anyway, the defenders were in charge on both sides.