FOOTBALL – The fans of FC Emmen will have to wait an extra week in anticipation to see whether or not their club will make it to the play-offs. The Drenthe club did what was expected tonight (won at FC Den Bosch, 1-2), but because MVV won at Jong AZ, the battle for the last two play-off tickets has not yet been decided.
That battle will culminate next week, on the very last day of the match. In principle, FC Emmen needs a win, although it must hope for some help elsewhere. This is because MVV can still grab 2nd place in the battle for the fourth period title. MVV must then win against VVV-Venlo. NAC, which has one point more than Emmen, visits TOP Oss. And NAC will also have to win in principle to avoid being left out.
The Emmen trainer trio Arts, Van Oostrum and Hegeman had to make do tonight in De Vliert without the long-term injured Robin Schouten and Chardi Landu. Desley Ubbink was also unavailable due to an injury. Lorenzo Burnet was available again and the same applied to Julius Dirksen. Both defenders had to miss the game against Helmond Sport due to illness.
During that match, Ben Scholte also dropped out with flu symptoms, but the Ter Apeler was also available again. The three started on the couch.
With Oelschlägel, Te Wierik, Heylen, Vos, Hardenveld, Kieftenbeld, Bernadou, Smeets, Van Hoeven, Parzyszek and Besuijen, Emmen had a difficult start in Brabant, where both teams were evenly matched for a long time. After 34 minutes, Emmen took the lead out of nowhere. It was Piotr Parzyszek, who simply got the ball in front of his feet and shot hard from the turn: 0-1.
Den Bosch could have equalized barely a minute after that goal, but Rik Mulders saw his shot smothered by Lucas Bernadou. The 0-1 score remained on the scoreboard until half time. At that moment, MVV led 1-2 in Wijdewormer.
Fifteen minutes after the break, Vicente Besuijen, after brilliant preparatory work by Bradly van Hoeven, seemed to have closed the game. His volley not only meant his fifth goal and fourth in a row for the winger, but of course also the important 0-2. It was also the last achievement of Van Hoeven, who was replaced by Patrick Brouwer.
Shortly afterwards, Parzyszek and Bernadou also had to leave the field, slightly shaken. The loss of Bernadou in particular turned out to be great, because Emmen was no longer involved in football. Despite Arts screaming his lungs out and gesticulating wildly with his arms, the red and white teams barely left their own half.
After substitute Henning scored the 1-2 behind Oelschlägel fifteen minutes before the end, the tension was back. But not only in Den Bosch, also in Wijdewormer where Jong AZ made the 2-2 against the now ten players from MVV.
It was squeezing and hoping at the same time. The first one worked with success and a portion of luck (because Den Bosch was very close to the equalizer three times by hitting the crossbar twice). Not the second, because MVV scored the 2-3 at Jong AZ deep in the second half. And so there was only a modest celebration with the 250 supporters who traveled along.
And the big party will have to go to next week!
