MVV Maastricht has lost the home match against NAC. The Brabant guests left stadium De Geusselt with a happy 1-2 victory.
Goalkeeper Nick Olije became the best man on the Breda side, which says a lot about the match.
Prior
NAC is one of the clubs involved in the battle for the play-offs. Prior to the game against MVV, the Breda team stood between Roda JC (eighth) and VVV-Venlo (tenth). The team from Breda has won its last three games in a row. Trainer Edwin de Graaf has his team play with three defenders, five midfielders and two men up front.
Nicky Souren returned to MVV on the left in midfield. Lars Schenk was preferred over Mitchel Keulen in the left-back position. The space for MVV should be on the wings. Klaas Wels started in a 4-3-3 formation.
First half
Both teams had opportunities in the opening phase. NAC gradually got hold of the midfield led by Ralf Seuntjens. A slight dominance in the field resulted in a best chance for Naoufal Bannis, his shot went wide.
MVV came dangerously in front of the Breda goal via a header from Mart Remans, but keeper Nick Olij tapped the ball out of the corner.
Opportunities
The people of Maastricht fought back well and had opportunities through Remans, Orhan Dzepar with a header on the post and Sven Blummel. The home team took risks and that was punished in the 33rd minute. A failure of NAC was effectively completed by Bannis, 0-1. MVV was momentarily upset, but the team recovered quickly. With a few more possibilities as a result. Goalkeeper Nick Olij, however, kept his goal clean and the 0-1 halftime score was reached.
Unchanged
Both teams started the second half with no changes. The game image was no different in the first minutes after the break: opportunities for MVV but no goals. In that phase NAC leaned even more on the defense, the ball was for the team of trainer Wels. A free kick from captain Sven Blummel, this time with a blue-yellow captain’s armband – was tapped from the top corner by goalkeeper Olije.
MVV got tired, also because the goal didn’t want to fall. NAC succeeded: a nice lob from Seuntjens was completed by Ody Velanas in the 69th minute, 0-2. The strength and faith flowed away from the people of Maastricht.
Heap
The match seemed over. Trainer Wels made two changes to try to bring new impetus to the team. Forwards Arian Kastrati and Mitchy Ntelo came ahead of defender Elano Yegen and midfielder Saul Penders. That surgery had an effect. In the 80th minute, substitute Kastrati scored the connecting goal: 1-2. With a last glimmer of hope, MVV threw everything on the attack to force the equalizer. The team could not force that luck in the six minutes of extra time and MVV suffered its 18th loss of the season.