ONR remains third division by winning against shooting NEC Delfzijl

,,That will be going out in The Palace in Groningen”, suggested the 21-year-old Man of the Match immediately afterwards with a smile from ear to ear. ,,Together with my brother Janco, his best friend Jozeph Duku Dima and the other teammates, we drink Vodka with Spa red. I promise my father a Father’s Day tomorrow when both his sons have small eyes.”

Championship

,,It still feels like a championship”, suggested ONR coach Erik Kloosterman with his partying team in mind. ,,Rik delivered like crazy today. He always has a free role and fills it in excellently. Fortunately, despite interest from several clubs, he continues to play football with us. My young team played according to plan today and we knew we were mentally stronger than NEC Delfzijl.”

That (presumably) also knew NEC trainer Roy Kamps. “We lose ourselves. It was sloppy, careless and some of the players were way too individualistic. Add to that the fact that one was too late and then you know it. We were actually constantly behind the facts after 1-0.”

Rik de Vries was already very attentive after fifteen minutes when Niels Boersema defended badly. With a nice action he then left keeper Bas Westerhuis of NEC Delfzijl without a chance: 1-0. And that while the guests started better and could have taken the lead.

Red

The final between the teams from 3C to retain the third division title really ignited after the break. At the sweltering accommodation of Achilles 1894 in Assen, striker Sem Switynk had the equalizer on the shoe, but failed. Moments later he ‘scored’ straight red, because he thought it necessary to shout the ‘k..-word’ to referee Zijl.

With eleven against ten, ONR got a lot of space and exploited this quickly. The second goal of the team from Roden did have a high Comedy Capers content. NEC defender Wilbert Lambeck headed the ball past his own goal from a cross from the right. There the ball went straight towards the forehead of fellow player Cameron Waaijenberg, who nodded ‘beautifully’ in his own square: 2-0.

Red party

NEC Delfzijl also contributed to the Roder party with the third goal. Keeper Westerhuis processed captain De Boer’s sustainable shot badly. At 4-0, the ONR captain avoided offside by going on an adventure from his own half, passing Westerhuis with a false kick and simply depositing the ball into the empty goal. The captain immediately received a round of applause and took a seat in the dug-out.

The 21 football players believed it, but the duel, which had everything in it, was not over yet. NEC defender Guillermo Slijngaard stumbled and had to leave the field on a stretcher with a serious injury. It was a sad end to an exciting last playoff game in 3C.