Volendam Ends Zwolle’s Run: First Away Win Secured

PEC Zwolle has not been able to extend its winning streak at home. On the contrary, after five wins in a row, the Zwolle team even suffered a 2-1 defeat against FC Volendam, which won an away match for the first time this Premier League season.

Thanks to those three points, the Volendam team, sixteenth in the rankings, distanced themselves from number sixteen Heracles, which lost at NEC earlier in the day. The gap has now grown to four points. Bottom line NAC already lost to Excelsior on Friday, while number seventeen Telstar will visit Go Ahead Eagles on Sunday.

Volendam, with assistant Michael Dingsdag primarily responsible on the bench instead of the ill trainer Rick Kruys, soon thought they were entitled to a penalty when Sherel Floranus appeared to assault Alex Plat, but the arbitration did not care.

PEC, which was only one win away from the club record from 2017 with five consecutive home matches won, was able to take the lead in the tenth minute. The first shot on target came from Tristan Gooijer and was immediately hit, although the right back did receive help from the barely moving Brandley Kuwas and the grabbing Kayne van Oevelen.

Volendam was not deterred by the early deficit and fought hard. That led to a heading opportunity for Nick Verschuren and after half an hour even to the equalizer. Gooijer, who had previously been successful at the other end, launched Kuwas due to a misunderstanding, which offered Robin van Cruijsen an opportunity that could hardly be missed: 1-1.

Bilal Ould-Chikh created two chances before half-time that could have given the guests a lead, but Kuwas bumped into goalkeeper Tom de Graaff and Ozan Kökçü’s tap-in ended up in the hands of the goalkeeper via the inside of the post.

16-year-old Jadiel Pereira da Gama, the youngest player ever in the Premier League since August last year, had not yet managed to add extra cachet to his basic debut at PEC with a goal. Until the 55th minute: the deep midfielder scored with a controlled lob over Van Oevelen.

This would have made him the youngest goalscorer ever in the Premier League, but the goal was disallowed because he had been slightly offside with Anselmo Mac Nulty’s pass.

Both teams felt there was more to it than just one point. At Volendam they gambled on a whim of 36-year-old Robert Mühren, the often scoring striker who announced last week that he would retire from professional football after this season, but the substitute was no longer in a promising position.

That did happen to Zwolle resident Koen Kostons, but shortly before the end he was unable to get any further than a weak shot that Van Oevelen had no problem with. Kuwas struck in the counterattack, giving Volendam, which was struggling against relegation, three more than welcome points.