Almere City FC left the three points to Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday. After the formation equalized in the final minutes of the home game, the visitors immediately scored 2-3. Alex Pastoor’s team remains nine points above the relegation zone with four matches to go.
Almere City FC starts the match with the same knowledge. The relegation line is 24 points. Excelsior Rotterdam has provisionally freed itself from the relegation zone on Friday with a victory over FC Volendam, leaving RKC dangling.
Almere City FC – Sparta Rotterdam reads like a castle story. Such a story is usually about landlords, knights and land grabbers. You know a fight like that goes back and forth. Like on a chessboard. But what happens in the final phase of this chess game is unreal. Thomas Robinet seems to get the chestnuts out of the fire for Almere City FC three minutes before the end by scoring the equalizer. However, the Frenchman had to watch passively as Verschueren took full advantage a minute later with a slide into the far corner.
The chess game started so energetically. It is Yoann Cathline who, after just five minutes of playing, advocates a new year for Almere City FC in the Eredivisie. Like a fast runner, he quickly hits the mark. Goalkeeper Nick Olij does not go free at 1-0, where he sees the ball shoot under him.
After two big opportunities for City, Sparta also steps into the war with a catapult. However, the home team can thank Bart Vriends for mowing hard over the ball. Three other dangerous moments for Samuel Radlinger’s goal are also neutralized. After that, Almere City FC cannot keep the Spartan chess pieces out of the sixteen for long. Goals from Tobias Lauritsen and Djevencio van der Kust tip the balance in favor of the Rotterdam team before half time.
In the second half, head coach Alex Pastoor tries to breach the Kasteelheren’s defensive line with some newly introduced chess pieces. However, the moat around the Spartan castle remains clean for a long time. Twenty minutes before the end, a beautiful move by Yoann Cathline almost led to marching music, a minute later it was Rajiv van La Parra who unfortunately played the ball just too far in front of him to test Olij.
After good preparatory work by Théo Barbet, Robinet ultimately seems to be the genius behind the seventh draw in a row for Almere City FC. However, castle lord Arno Verschueren checkmates Almere City FC to end the impressive series.
Almere City FC continues the competition in eleven days with a midweek match against FC Twente. On Wednesday, April 24, the formation kicks off at 6:45 PM in the Grolsch Veste. Tickets for the match are available via tickets.almerecity.nl
Photo: Ron Baltus / sportsshots.pro
