After the lovely summer weather of last week, today was cap weather. After last week's nice win, today was hat. The first comparison today. You have those days when one player is out of shape, maybe two players and sometimes three but eleven on the same day out of shape does not happen often. So only today. We start well and aggressively because we know AZ is a tough opponent. We get some small chances but in the twelfth minute it is Rai who hits a shot with great effect which the AZ goalkeeper misjudges, giving us a 1-0 lead. We want to push on but it seems like the genie is out of the bottle after 1-0. The game is not going well, passes are not arriving, the ball is not being picked up properly, actions are being taken too far, in short nothing is succeeding and what we are showing is not good. Just before the break Albian has one of his famous actions but the ball goes millimeters past the wrong side of the post. Halftime 1 - 0.
Then we have to pick it up after the break but AZ also feels there is something to gain. After about fifteen minutes we were lucky when a terrible AZ shot hit the post. We now get some more space because AZ also goes for the full win. Twenty minutes before the end we have a good attack on the left but Clint's shot goes wide. Then we lose the ball and from about 27 meters the number 8 with a really great shot into the top corner leaves Jesse with no chance at all and after more than three hundred minutes without a goal against in the league, it is now a goal and the 1 - 1 is on the board. And so what we are calling down on ourselves comes true. Only one point and not three as we wanted. For AZ it is already the eleventh draw of this league so it is and remains a difficult opponent to fight. We have little time to grieve because the next game is on Wednesday, against Heerenveen. And that is also a strong opponent that is currently taking the points. But we can console ourselves with the thought that even the darkest hour lasts only sixty minutes.
On to Heerenveen and good luck.


Bertrams, van Vlerken, Hermannsson, Hendrix, Heesakkers, Mahmoed, Sanoh, Leemans (75th Rommers), Muzaqi (63rd Antonio), Vloet, Rayhi (80th Maria).