On Monday-evening, two teams face each other who have filled up confidence in the last week. Which team can continue on the right track?
Almere City:
Almere City has achieved good results in recent weeks against direct competitors in the fight for a play-off ticket. Two weeks ago, the Flevolanders grabbed a point at the last minute in Maastricht against MVV (1-1), after which the team settled in-house with TOP Oss (3-0), and then won the first time in club history last Friday in Leeuwarden against Cambuur. Because of these points against the direct competitors, the team of coach Ole Tobiasen, who took the helm a few weeks ago from the fired Michele Santoni, is now in seventh place. It is all very close together, because in a loss against Helmond Sport, Almere can even fall outside the play-offs again.
The match against Helmond Sport is the start of a series against the lesser gods of the Kitchen Champion Division. Monday’s game is followed by duels with Jong FC Utrecht, Telstar and FC Dordrecht. Participation in the play-offs is therefore a very realistic scenario for Almere, which, moreover, hopes to be successful in the Fourth Period.
Helmond Sport:
Helmond Sport was working hard to lose all its dignity as a professional football organization, but ended an ink-black series last Friday. The team of coach Robbie Alflen finished with a resounding 4-0 win over Roda JC in a series of eleven games without a win. Helmond had only taken two points in the whole of 2019, but three more were added on Friday. Arne Naudts was the big man with the home team. The Belgian striker accounted for two of the four goals. The other two hits came in the name of Joeri Poelmans and Dylan de Braal.
Because it was only the third victory of the season, we find Helmond Sport back in the penultimate place of the ranking. The team has so far managed to play only eighteen points together, but has now hit a three-point gap with the closing of the team at FC Utrecht. In a further dark season, Helmond Sport has managed to achieve a striking statistic: it is currently the only team that remained unbeaten in-house against all three relegants from the Eredivisie.
Another good news for Helmond is the draining of the infirmary. Against Almere only Nick de Louw, Odysseus Velanas, Bodi Brusselers and Albin Muzaqi are not yet in the game due to injury. This is nothing compared to weeks ago, when Alflen occasionally had to miss twelve players.
