ADO were going into this fixture against Maastricht needing a win to have a chance of leapfrogging Roda JC who were sat in second place, just one point above the home side. ADO, however, had just come off the back of a loss against league leaders Willem II and would need to gain something from this game to boost morale and reestablish some momentum. MVV meanwhile were sat in 11th place and in rather decent form having lost one, drawn one, and won two of their last four.
As always, the home side started strong and the first chance fell to the winger Daryl Van Mieghem in the first minute who received the ball inside the box after a nice flick back from Veerman. Alas, the Den Haag winger squandered his chance, firing a weak shot at Matthys who duly saved the weak attempt at goal. ADO were dominating possession more and more as the half progressed, and on 22 minutes another chance fell to the home side after a good ball was drilled into the box from out wide by Van Mieghem. The ball in found the foot of recent signing Jari Vlak, who hit the ball first time and the ball rifled back off the crossbar. Two good chances had gone begging for ADO and the match looked poised to be a spectacle after the away side responded with a close shave of their own as Keuken Kampioen Divisie’s top goalscorer of this calendar year, Bryan Smeets, hit the outside of the left post from a well taken free kick, 25 yards out. Another big chance fell to the away side on 35 minutes as a quick breakaway saw Smeets and Sleegers in a two-on-one, yet the pair couldn’t make the most of the chance and a shot on goal by the latter prompted a good save from Marsman. The first side to break, however, was the MVV defense who couldn’t prevent a good ball in from Van Mieghem from reaching ADO’s lethal number nine, Henk Veerman, who headed the ball towards goal and past a despairing Matthys to put the home side in front with 42 minutes played. A mix-up between the Maastricht goalkeeper and defender Coomans gave ADO another chance just minutes later but Van Der Sande couldn’t find the back of the net due to a good block from Aktas. The sides went into the halftime break with ADO rightfully leading 1 – 0, although it was clear to many in the stadium that unless changes were made, the away side could equalize.
The first major chance of the second half fell to Maastricht as Smeets was in possession of the ball out wide and managed to pick out a lovely pass to Remans who made an uncontested run to the back post, scoring with a first-time finish to bring the sides level. ADO continued to dominate the half with a flurry of chances, but an excellent goalkeeping display by Matthys kept the scores level. While ADO were dominating possession, a quick breakaway by Livramento saw the MVV striker superbly dribble past Waem and Derijck and then go on to place the ball past Marsman and into the far left corner. The away side were now in the lead with 70 minutes gone. ADO would now throw everything at this game to try to salvage a much-deserved point. With 3 minutes left of added time, the ball was floated over to ADO man, Alex Schalk, who managed to put away a rather controversial goal with many Maastricht players claiming a foul on the goalkeeper as Schalk had shouldered Matthys to the ground. Yet crucially, the referee didn’t agree and the goal stood.
ADO will be disappointed with this result as ultimately it was their game to lose and had a plethora of chances to put the game to bed, yet the Storks will undoubtedly be feeling a sense of relief, having pulled the game out of the fire to level the score with mere minutes on the clock. The home side still maintain their third-place league position after this result and are now three points behind second-place Roda and seven points behind league leaders Willem II, who narrowly lost to title chasers Roda JC. ADO’s next fixture is against 15th-place Jong Ajax, however, the team will ultimately have their eyes set on the game after that as the Storks are set to face second-place Roda JC in what was named a key clash for Den Haag even before the season started.
FINAL SCORE:
ADO: 2 (Veerman, 43. Schalk, 90+3.)
MVV: 2 (Remans, 55. Livramento, 70.)
MOTM: Romain Matthys
Zestee 