NAC travels to Maastricht with good papers for the return of the first round of the play-offs. At home, the team from Breda was much stronger than MVV, but it remained at 1-0. The evening was dedicated to the deceased clubman Hans van den Dungen.
On a human level, it was a pitch-black week for NAC. On Saturday, club icon Hans van den Dungen died unexpectedly at the age of 61. The former player with 361 matches on the counter was still working for the club and his death was therefore hard.
On a sporting level, we had to look ahead, towards the start of the play-offs. But in a warm way, the loss of ‘Dunga’ was extensively discussed around the match. A memorial corner was set up in the main building and supporters provided beautiful banners as a tribute. The minute of silence was impressive.
Then NAC shot out of the starting blocks. The stadium was not sold out, but it was seething like never before. The team from Breda immediately went on the attack against MVV. That led to opportunities for Ody Velanas, the replacement for the injured Elías Már Ómarsson, and Javier Vet, who was preferred to Casper Staring.
It wasn’t always good, but passionate it was. NAC dominated and became especially dangerous on the flanks. Boyd Lucassen in particular had a taste for it. MVV didn’t get a chance. The 1-0 after forty minutes was therefore deserved. Velanas redeemed a penalty he deserved.
After the break, NAC went on the hunt for the second goal and it seemed to come after an hour of play. Jort van der Sande headed in on a pass from Charles-Jesaja Herrmann (who replaced the injured Velanas after 50 minutes), but in the run-up to the goal an offside was found. The flag went up and the VAR watched: no goal.
Then a beautiful moment followed. In the 61st minute, the death of Van den Dungen was once again discussed. The entire stadium applauded, referee Alex Bos stopped play and clapped along.
For a moment it was a shock when MVV came to 1-1, completely out of nowhere, but the flag also went up with that goal. Apart from that one moment, NAC simply remained standing and there were chances of a second goal. But Ezekiel Banzuzi shot moderately twice. As a result, it remained at 1-0, with which NAC was actually too kind to MVV. The return is in Maastricht on Saturday. The winner goes to the semi-final against FC Emmen.
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