PJC ends the year well with a victory over ZNC

Both associations face challenges. From a sporting point of view, it doesn’t last, with a place at the bottom of the rankings. While at ZNC energy consumption is also high on the agenda.

“That is perhaps the most important topic. We are working hard to become energy neutral,” says chairman Jos Niemeijer. “The costs of our energy consumption have increased enormously in recent years. We have to do something about that.”

ZNC stops performance football on Sundays

What also needs to be done is the performance of the first team. After this season, ZNC will stop performance football on Sundays and continue on Saturdays, but if the Zuidbroek Noordbroek Combination is not careful, this will happen in the fifth division.

Although the season is not even halfway through, a win over PJC was particularly welcome to stay away from the direct relegation places. The same can be said about the team from Nieuwe Pekela, which had only collected four points until Sunday afternoon.

The guests started the match best. After more than ten minutes of play, Tom van der Schuur gave Jur Bontjer an opportunity not to be missed. But the striker hesitated too long in front of an empty goal, allowing Leon Dijk to save the day.

ZNC could offer very little in return

Van der Schuur also failed to give PJC the lead moments later. ZNC could offer very little in return. Only Sven Niemeijer became dangerous with a header, which went just wide of the PJC goal defended by Bert Veentjer.

Just before half time, the goalkeeper had to stretch to the corner after a shot from Bastiaan Hovenkamp. PJC decided the match more than ten minutes after the break. Bontjer opened the score, after which Jeroen Jager responded adequately after a shot from Erwin Aukes could be stopped.

‘As long as we can solve the problem through football, everything will go well’

For an hour, player/trainer Wouter Valeton’s PJC remained the better team. “You see that often with us. As long as we can solve it through football, things will go well. In terms of positional play, things are getting better, but when the spaces become too big and we can no longer navigate them, things go wrong.”

The fact that PJC left the field with three points this time also had to do with ZNC’s attacking inability. Trainer Geert Dreise saw Bastiaan Hovenkamp and the brothers Jeroen and Jasper Huizinga miss three times just in front of PJC goalkeeper Veentjer.

Valeton could breathe a sigh of relief when referee Dijkstra blew the whistle after more than ninety minutes. “I am very happy with this victory, although it could have come a little easier if we had taken our chances in the beginning. This victory comes in very handy. We train well, although the attendance could be a little higher. As a team we are making progress.”