RKC Waalwijk won the relegation battle against Vitesse 3-1 and thus dealt a hard blow to the Arnhem team. RKC thus increases the difference in the rankings with the Gelderlanders to five points and joins the bottom of the middle bracket. For Vitesse, direct enforcement in the Eredivisie will be a monster job.
For RKC Waalwijk, the relegation cracker against Vitesse was the first match in a series in which the Waalwijkers have to get points. Next week the away team awaits rivals for fifteenth place Excelsior and in the following weeks, Henk Fraser’s team with SC Heerenveen, Almere City and FC Volendam will meet teams against which there are also opportunities to escape from the relegation zone. Confidence in Brabant could also use a boost because in the twelve previous matches, RKC won only once (2-0 against NEC).
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Vitesse is also certainly not in a flow yet. This calendar year they only won 1-2 at Excelsior two weeks ago, although they took a total of four points in the last three games.
The Arnhem team started two points behind RKC. In the vanguard, Amine Boutrah alternated good moments with bad ones as a left attacker. The left winger was substituted at half-time by trainer Edward Sturing. Mexx Meerdink, a loanee from AZ, works hard as a striker, but his running actions are still often not understood by teammates. Right winger Anis Hadj Moussa is a binder, but sometimes wants to take his actions too far. The Algerian, hired from Patro Eisden, had a difficult time against the experienced Aaron Meijers.
At RKC, David Min keeps captain Michiel Kramer on the bench. The ball sometimes jumps off the striker’s foot. Min does have the quality to choose a good position in the ‘sixteen’. The attacker cleverly headed in a cross from Lelieveld and thus signed for the 1-0 halftime score.
At Vitesse, Paxten Aaronson is increasingly emerging as a real reinforcement. The midfielder, who is on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt, brings pace to the game with the ball and has already seen where the ball should go before he gets the ball. The American also provides depth with his runs. In the second, Aaronson scored the equalizer on a pass from Kacper Kozlowski. The goal came in a strong phase for Vitesse. Almost out of nowhere, RKC took the lead again. Vitesse defender Ramon Hendriks clumsily went under a high cross and Reuven Niemeijer took advantage. In the last minute of extra time, everything went for Vitesse, including goalkeeper Eloy Room going forward for a corner and RKC countered to make it 3-1. Substitute Michiel Kramer pushed the ball into the empty goal.
Vitesse will visit Almere City FC next Saturday and will travel to Alkmaar after the international break to face AZ. With the charged derby against NEC later in the season and matches against PSV, FC Utrecht and Ajax, Vitesse will have to earn a lot of bonus points to avert (direct) relegation.
