Gorecht plays away the blues, Bob Poorta scores a charged 100th goal. ‘I think we belong in the first division’

It can change. The famous words of poet/playwright Bredero have rarely been more applicable to anything than Gorecht’s season so far. The people of Haren seemed to be competing for the title and scored happily. One point less than Noordscheschut in the first period and only one. The team was swinging or rocking, as coach and music lover Hans van der Ploeg prefers.

After the winter break it is a funeral march, or to stay in the vein of Van der Ploeg’s music preference: Gorecht has the blues. The Black and Whites did not win a single match after the winter break and scored only twice in five matches.

Suzan and Freek

For comparison, a selection of the final scores before the winter break: 6-3 win against LTC, 4-0 win against Wolvega and spectacular 4-4 draw against Achilles 1894. But from January onwards it will be poverty. As if you are at a Beatles concert and after the break Suzan and Freek come on stage. A metamorphosis of the worst kind.

Prior to the away match against low-flying VV Groningen – Gorecht itself has now dropped to the middle bracket – there is little evidence of an atmosphere of crisis. Bob Poorta greets friendly when he comes out of the dressing room for the warm-up and another even literally walks onto the field whistling. They know that things have not been going so well lately, but they are full of confidence. “Just pay attention, we’re back again today. I think that with this selection we actually belong in the first division. We are going all out for the third period and let it start today,” says Poorta.

Van der Ploeg enters the field moments later. He agrees that morale is good in his team. “We just discussed this week that this is a new start. The group is completely fit and together again, unfortunately except for Yorn Niewold, who probably tore his cruciate ligament last week. We had a lot of injuries in recent weeks and people who were on winter sports, for example. You notice that in the fixed patterns. I also started playing around with the playing style. The game simply suffers from that,” he explains the dip in form after the winter break.

Wall

Gorecht’s opponent on Saturday afternoon is regularly beaten, but last week they pulled off a 0-0 draw against Noordscheschut. It should come as no surprise that the team is sometimes beaten 7-0. After all, they almost no longer existed after financial problems. An ultimate rescue operation ensured that the people’s club is fortunately still among us, but many players from the first selection had already found refuge elsewhere.

That 0-0 against Noordscheschut is even better. This has also arrived at Van der Ploeg. “It is up to us to play football through that wall.”

This worked out quite quickly, because after five minutes Christoph Otten headed a cross carried by the strong easterly wind almost onto the goal line. Poorta gave his team a comfortable 2-0 lead with a punt two minutes later. Another brick in the wall demolished, to keep it in pop music. After the 0-3 on the stroke of half time, the wall, if there was one, was completely broken down.

Zlatan and the hundredth

It is not a gala performance after tea, but it is two beautiful moments. First Otten makes his third with a Zlatan-like solo and a good ten minutes later Poorta makes his second of the afternoon. It is his hundredth competition goal. After he was out with a cruciate ligament injury, it was an emotional moment. The thunderous applause from all his teammates and the hug with his trainer are completely appropriate. Moreover: his words from before the match have come true, Gorecht is coming again!