The good series that NAC was working on in the Kitchen Champion Division has painfully come to an end. Closer Helmond Sport treated the Breda team to a major defeat. Helmond Sport was the only Brabant team to win on Friday-evening.
Young Ajax-FC Eindhoven 2-2
Without the sick Rob Penders on the bench, FC Eindhoven started the match in Amsterdam well. Joey Sleegers made the 0-1 within fifteen minutes. He passed goalkeeper Charlie Setford and then pushed the ball into the empty goal. For Sleegers it was his sixteenth goal of the season. Danilo equalized from the penalty spot in the first half.
In the first minute after the break, Sleegers was again involved in an Eindhoven goal. This time he was the principal. Jort van de Sande was the final station, he nodded the ball against the ropes. For a long time, that early goal in the second half seemed to be the winning one for FC Eindhoven. Until Sontje Hansen shot the ball into the corner eight minutes before the end and Nigel Betrams had no chance: 2-2.
Helmond Sport-NAC Breda 4-0
NAC won the last six games in the Kitchen Champion Division. A visit to the last race in Helmond Sport did not add up to a seventh victory. Thomas Beekman was the big man on the side of the home team in the first half. With a nice bounce, he left NAC goalie Nick Olij no chance and gave Helmond Sport the lead, shortly before half time he gave Dylan Seys an unmissable chance with a good and tight cross: 2-0.
Just after the 2-0, Ezechiel Banzuzi hit the grass in the penalty area. The young NAC player was knocked down by Mike Havekotte. The Helmond Sport goalie breathed a sigh of relief when referee Marc Nagtegaal gave a corner instead of a penalty kick.
Edwin de Graaf will have put his team on edge at half time. That did not have the desired effect for the team from Breda. In the second minute after the break it was defender Boyd Reith who made the 3-0. De Graaf tried to bring about something after an hour of playing with four substitutions, but before all those players had touched the ball, it was already 4-0 by Jellert van Landschoot. That was it. A fantastic victory for Helmond Sport, an embarrassing defeat for NAC.
TOP Oss-Excelsior Rotterdam 1-1
Fifteen minutes before the end, TOP Oss took the lead against Excelsior. The home team had been looking for a goal for a while, but several good attacks yielded nothing. Until Jearl Margaritha curled the ball into the corner of the goal after a nice play. A deserved lead for Bob Peeters’ team.
TOP Oss was unable to get that deserved lead over the line. Excelsior, the number three in the Kitchen Champion Division and on the hunt for a place that entitles them to immediate promotion, came 1-1 four minutes before the end of the game thanks to a goal by Reuven Niemeijer.
Almere City-FC Den Bosch 2-0
After two victories in a row, FC Den Bosch went to Almere with a good feeling. However, the team of coach Jack de Gier soon fell behind against Almere City. Within ten minutes Ilias Alhaft made the 1-0, after half an hour of play it became 2-0 via Maarten Pouwels. It later turned out to be the final result.
Young PSV-Roda JC 3-3
Maxi Romero once again made a comeback in PSV’s red and white. On Friday evening he had a basic place at Jong PSV, the team of coach Ruud van Nistelrooy. In the first half he saw Ismael Saibari score twice with a shot from distance, both times the Argentinian was the principal. Johan Bakayoko also scored in the first 45 minutes.
Because of those three goals, Jong PSV went to rest with a lead, while it had fallen behind twice. The goals of Dylan Vente and Bryan Limbombe were thus nullified. After the goal-scoring spectacle in the first half, there were much fewer goals scored in the second half. One goal was scored, in favor of Roda JC. Defender Stefano Marzo put the final score on the scoreboard ten minutes after the break: 3-3.