Dalen wins regional derby against Twedo at the opening of the season

After Gomos, it obviously took some time for Drent to get used to his new club Dalen. The transition from North to South Drenthe quickly felt good for the former striker of FC Groningen and FC Emmen. Although the results in the preparation and the cup matches were far from optimal. “Dalen has a good team, but we didn’t play good football today. The boys played with a lot of commitment and passion. Then you see that we can also play English football, like today, and get a good result,” the Dalen coach said afterwards.

Colleague Jannes de Lange from the newly promoted Twedo (champion of the third division after a monster score in the last game against Gasselternijveen) was of course disappointed with the first loss. “This is the second division, a level higher, I told the boys beforehand. We didn’t play enough between the lines and then you get too many long balls. The boys up front are good football players, but don’t score enough. Unlike Dalen, where a corner and a half chance meant two goals conceded for us in the first half.”

Dalen scored the first goal easily on the too high, stiff grass. From the very first corner kick, which Ruben Sinnema took from the right, Niels Koert headed in unhindered. “I hit the ball perfectly,” Koert said afterwards. The best man on the home team’s side also thought that the game was not optimal. “It could have been much better. We went too much into their physical play and it became too much of a mess.”

Koert was also responsible for Dalen’s second goal just before half time. He passed the ball from the left towards striker Tijmen Venhorst, who feinted the ball for Wouter Eiting. The midfielder had no trouble beating Twedo keeper Rick Manting: 2-0. “Tijmen asked for the ball. I wanted it there, but actually the ball fell at Wouter’s feet with a bit of luck,” said Koert.

After the break, Twedo tried to play forward with more enthusiasm. The guests, with the agile strikers Bram Vuuregge and Iwan Immink up front, did not get further than a few limited opportunities. Vuuregge headed a ball wide from a free kick and Immink came through several times threateningly. On the other hand, Dalen’s forwards had opportunities to finally close the game. Substitute Wessel Drogt shot the greatest opportunity after half an hour from close range, sky-high over the Twedo goal.

The sting was again in the tail of Dalen’s third goal. After Manting defused a chance from a Sinnema free kick, he also prevented Meijer from scoring. In the last minute of official playing time it was a hit. A corner from Sinnema again ended up at Meijer who easily made it 3-0 from close range. “We deserved to win,” said Drent. “We have to quickly adapt to the level and start scoring goals,” said De Lange.