David Min helped RKC Waalwijk to a victory over NEC. The 24-year-old replacement for the injured striker Michiel Kramer sent the home team into the carnival weekend with two goals (2-0). RKC played in a special carnival outfit.
The formation of coach Henk Fraser achieved its first competition victory in nine matches. NEC, semi-finalist in the KNVB Cup, lost for only the second time in the last fourteen competition matches. The Nijmegen formation last lost to Ajax (1-2) on December 3.
With the victory, RKC took more distance from the bottom places. The club currently has 6 points more than FC Volendam and Vitesse, numbers 17 and 18 in the rankings.
Min scored for the first time in the 7th minute after a good free kick from Aaron Meijers. Dario van den Buijs then had an excellent opportunity to make it 2-0. However, Jasper Cillessen saved a penalty for the first time in the Eredivisie. However, the NEC goalkeeper cheered too early. The penalty had to be taken again because some of his teammates caught up too early. Goalscorer Min claimed the penalty and he left Cillessen without a chance (2-0).
The victory is all the more remarkable because RKC was still missing an important player in the injured Ralf Seuntjens. NEC tried again after the break. But Tjaronn Chery and Koki Ogawa were no longer able to make the game exciting in a promising position.