The penultimate game in the championship pool at home against Fc Utrecht. Together with AZ and Ajax we are still in the race for the cup. After about five minutes it is Maarten (who is leaving for the Fc) who appreciates a corner and puts the deserved lead on the board. We could not enjoy the lead for long because ten minutes later Utrecht punished a misunderstanding in our backline. We did not let our heads drop and picked up the thread and at halftime we were unable to convert our field advantage into goals. After the break we want to continue because in Amsterdam the score is also tied. So winning is the assignment. Just under ten minutes into the game, Matthias pulled the ball in from the left-hand side with the ball at his feet, and from just under 25 meters, he knocked the ball in with a low, contradictory whistle. What a relief. 2 - 1.
We still get some good chances to increase the score but the most important thing is that the points stay inside. We keep the score as it is and then we wait for word from Amsterdam. And then comes the surprising news that in injury time there (and we know how that feels) it has become 4-3 for Ajax.
So now we are tied with Amsterdam and we need a win next week in Alkmaar to force a possible tie.
We will go for that. Now that we have come this far we also want to take the final step.
Men on to next week.
Bye-bye.

van Osch, Abels, Peijnenburg, Carolina, Bannani (88th Scheepers), Rommens, Konings (73rd Daneels), Rigo ( 85th Kardes), Lammers, Laros, Verreth.