The first round proper of the 2016/17 edition of the KNVB Beker got under way on Tuesday 20th September with Ernest Faber’s, Groningen travelling to the Sportpark ‘t Slot – the home of fourth tier outfit, Capelle writes Steven Davies
The Derde Divisie club, 8th in the Zaterdag table, came into the tie off the back of two successive defeats while by contrast, following a disastrous start to Ernest Faber’s reign – Groningen losing their opening three games of the season before picking up five points from the last nine available, including a first win of the season – a comprehensive five goal hammering of Utrecht last Friday, the Pride of the North were at last heading in the right direction and it came as little surprise that the Eredivisie side continued their recent resurgence at the expense of their fourth tier opponents – Danny Hoesen and Tom van Weert firing the visitors into a two goal lead with just a quarter of an hour on the clock before second half strikes by first, Hans Hateboer just after the hour and then Norwegian, Alexander Sorloth with eleven minutes remaining rounded off a convincing four goal victory and progression into the 2nd round of the competition for the 2015 cup winners.
Elsewhere, Groningen’s neighbours, Cambuur left it late to see off fourth tier, FC Rijnvogels and seal their place in the 2nd round of the competition – Martijn Barto scoring the only goal of the game in the 89th minute to spare the blushes of Rob Maas’ side.
Another second tier outfit, FC Emmen were given a similarly rough ride by Derde Divisie opposition in the form of Scheveningen – the fourth tier side having the audacity to take the lead through Tim Peters before two strikes in seven minutes through first, Cas Peters and then Tim Siekman late in the first half turned the score line on its head.
Yet, the Eerste Divisie side failed to add to their advantage in the second half and it was only when the home side were reduced to ten men – Levi Schwiebbe receiving his second yellow card of the match and with it his marching orders from referee, Laurens Gerrets, that Dick Lukkien’s charges could look forward to the 2nd round draw.
Elsewhere, fellow Eerste Divisie club, Almere City sealed their progress into the 2nd round of the competition at the expense of another Derde Divisie outfit, Rijnsburgse Boys thanks to a goal in either half from Yener Arica.
Another match-up that pitted fourth against second tier opposition took place at the Gemeentelijk Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen in Cuijk where JVC put up a brave fight against Michel Vonk’s, SC Telstar – the visitors, who came into the match on the back of a four game winning streak, leaping out to a two-goal lead at half time through first, Mohammed Ajnane and then Macedonian attacker, Denis Mahmudov before being pegged back by a strike from defender, Jorrit Ritzen just after the hour mark to leave the tie on a knife edge until the fourth minute of added time when Liban Abdulahi made the game safe.
Two Eerste Divisie heavyweights in mixed form came head to head at the Rat Varlegh Stadion in Breda where two first half goals from Torino Hunte saw VVV Venlo progress at the expense of Marinus Dijkhuizen’s NAC.
Another all Eerste Divisie clash took place at the Kras Stadion in Volendam where the hosts found themselves two goals down to visitors, MVV inside the first 34 minutes following strikes from Luis Pedro and Thomas Verheijdt before Jack Tuijp pulled a goal back for the home side early in the second half.
However, when Joeri Schroijen restored the visitor’s two goal advantage just after the hour mark it appeared that Ron Elsen’s men were heading for the 2nd round only for the 33-year-old, Tuijp to net twice in the space of seven minutes to complete his hat trick and send the game to extra time and then a penalty shoot-out from which the hosts emerged victorious by five spot kicks to four – Florian Loshaj missing the tenth and ultimately decisive spot kick.
Fellow Eerste Divisie outfit, RKC Waalwijk had an altogether easier time of things – dispatching fourth tier, EVV, through second half strikes by Fredua Benson, Pieter Langedijk and Serginho Greene.
Another all-Eerste Divisie encounter saw FC Eindhoven edge out hosts, FC Den Bosch at the Timmermans Infra Stadion De Vliert by the odd goal in five – Mart Lieder opening the scoring in the 11th minute before Arda Havar levelled for the home side on 24 minutes. Lieder restored the visitor’s advantage with eleven minutes remaining but when Mario Bilate brought the home side back on level terms with seven minutes to play it seemed that the game was heading for extra time until PSV loanee, Rai Vloet popped up to snatch a winner in the dying moments for Ricardo Moniz’s men.
Elsewhere, despite there being two divisions between them, a lone Nigel Hasselbaink goal was all that separated Mitchell van der Gaag’s, Excelsior and stubborn Tweede Divisie outfit, Barendrecht.
The first upset of the round came at the Sportpark De Westmaat where IJsselmeervogels dumped out Eerste Divisie side, Achilles ’29 – the home side hitting their more illustrious visitors for three through strikes by Sherwin Grot, Ali Akla and Christiaan van Hussen before substitute, Brian Boogers tucked away a consolation for Eric Meijers’ men with six minutes left on the clock.
Another upset occurred at the Sportpark De Zwaaier where Hemond Sport were hit for three without response by another Tweede Divisie club, Kozakken Boys – Raily Ignacio, Gwaeron Stout and Everton Pires Tavares with the goals that put the third tier outfit into the hat for the 2nd round.
It took a penalty shoot-out to separate third tier, HHC and fifth tier Jodan Boys – the Hoofdklasse outfit surprising their hosts after the game ended 2-2 – Rob van der Leij giving the home side the lead before the visitors had levelled through Fanny Waandels with 20 minutes remaining. With the score level after 90 minutes the game entered extra time where the sides traded a goal a-piece – Adil Akanioui putting the visitors into the ascendancy after 111 minutes only for Andrej Piljic to tie things up two minutes later. After a tension filled penalty shoot-out, Anouar Chairi’s spot kick was enough to see the fifth tier club into the second round – 7-6.
Tuesday’s cup action was concluded at the Abe Lenstra Stadion where it took extra time to separate Jurgen Streppel’s Heerenveen from Eerste Divisie opposition in the form of De Graafschap.
Go Ahead Eagles’ loanee, Elvio van Overbeek put the Eerste Divisie side ahead with 23 minutes to play and looked to have secured a famous win for the second tier side until Henk Veerman popped up with his second goal in as many games with 86 minutes on the clock to send the game into extra time.
However, any thoughts the visitors may have harboured of springing an upset over their Eredivisie hosts were well and truly obliterated as the Friesland outfit rattled in four goals without reply – Veerman netting his second of the match before strikes by Arber Zeneli, Younes Namli and Stijn Schaars gave the eventual score line a convincing but rather misleading look.
Wednesday’s cup action kicked off at the Sportpark De Biezen in Dongen where Go Ahead Eagles eventually saw off their hosts – finding three goals in the last 13 minutes through Xandro Schenk, Kenny Teijsse and Sam Hendriks having trailed their fourth tier opposition for the majority of the contest after Jorik Mijnhijmer had put the Derde Divisie side into the ascendancy in the 14th minute.
Reigning Eredivisie champions, PSV Eindhoven made short work of their visitors from Kerkrade in their all-Eredivisie encounter with Roda JC – a Davy Propper double along with strikes from Gaston Pereiro and Luciano Narsingh seeing Phillip Cocu’s men safely into the hat for the second round of the competition.
However, it certainly wasn’t all plane sailing for another Eredivisie side, Heracles – who required extra time to see off Tweede Divisie outfit, Excelsior Maassluis after Vincent Vermeij’s 56th minute strike had been cancelled out eight minutes from time by Daan Smith. Yet, extra time proved a bridge too far for the underdogs – Vermeij claiming his second of the game in the 112th minute before Brandley Kuwas ensured John Stegeman’s side’s presence into the second round of the competition three minutes into added time.
Another all-Eredivisie clash took place at the Goffertstadion in Nijmegen where it took a penalty shoot out to separate NEC and visitors, ADO Den Haag who had to wait until extra time before troubling the scoreboard – an own goal by Gregor Breinburg putting the home side ahead in the 105th minute before Gervane Kastaneer brought the men from The Hague back into the contest with 114 minutes on the clock. But, with the sides unable to be separated, it was Zeljko Petrovic’s side that prevailed in the resultant penalty shoot-out.
Eredivisie new boys, Sparta Rotterdam killed off the challenge of their visitors from Dordrecht by half time – strikes from Mart Dijkstra, Thomas Verhaar and an own goal from Joris Kramer effectively ending the tie as a contest despite Alvin Daniels adding a second half consolation for the visitors before goal scorer Verhaar was sent for an early shower with twelve minutes remaining having picked up his second yellow card of the match.
Elsewhere, Tweede Divisie side, VVSB easily saw off fifth tier outfit, Achilles Veen – goals from Maikey Parami, Vladimir Jozic, Giovialli Serbony and Younes Seghrouchni putting the third tier side out of reach with more than a quarter of an hour still to play before Sezer Sulun restored some respect for the Hoofdklasse side in the 81st minute.
A lone strike from Mart van de Gevel was enough to see UNA past visitors, Huizen, while, ASWH surprisingly hit Tweede Divisie outfit, De Treffers for three in the first half of their tie through goals from Peter de Lange, Peter Verhoeve and Bart Deprez to join UNA in the hat for the second round of the competition.
Another shock came at the Sportpark De Westmaat where third tier side, Spakenburg upset Eerste Divisie opposition in the form of Fortuna Sittard by two goals to one – Olivier Pilon and Danny van den Meiracker putting the Tweede Divisie outfit two goals to the good before a late response from Abdelaziz Khalouta made for a tense final quarter of an hour.
Despite posting four goals in their tie with Tweede Divisie side, FC Lieden, AZ Alkmaar had to wait until the dying moments to truly kill off their third tier opposition – Muamer Tankovic giving John van den Brom’s side the lead with 37 minutes on the clock before Mo Bendadi levelled for the hosts on 65 minutes. Yet, despite new signing Iliass Bel Hassani restoring the visitor’s lead just three minutes later, it was only when Bel Hassani netted his second of the game with four minutes remaining that the Eredivisie outfit put the tie out of their host’s reach – Robert Muhren adding a fourth in the third minute of added time.
Despite being rooted to the foot of the Tweede Divisie table, Koninklijke HFC hit fourth tier visitors, OJC Rosmalen for six – Erolind Derguti, Oscar Wilffert, Jeffrey Sam-Sin, Puck Postma and Tim van Soest (who bagged a brace) were all on target for the hosts whose visitors could only manage a lone Frank van Mosselveld strike in response.
Another side who put their league struggles aside to post a sizable score were PEC Zwolle. Despite languishing at the foot of the Eredivisie standings, Ron Jans’ men hit their fourth tier hosts, DVS ’33 for four – a double from Nicolai Brock-Madsen, a penalty from Bram van Polen and an Anass Achahbar strike ensured that the 2014 cup winners would be in the hat for the second round before Kay Velda netted a consolation for the hosts with a minute to go.
Katwijk ensured that they would also be in the bag for the 2nd round of the competition by seeing off Derde Divisie strugglers Harkemase Boys by two goals to one – the visitors surprising their third tier hosts by taking the lead through Bjorn Adams shortly before the hour before the Tweede Divisie side turned the score line on its head with goals from first, Robbert Susan and then, Mike van den Ban deep into added time to seal progression to the second round of the competition.
The final match on Wednesday saw Peter Bosz ring the changes ahead of Ajax’s second meeting of the season with Willem II – the visitors having remarkably come away from the Amsterdam ArenA with all three points on 20th August .
However, there was to be no repeat of that extraordinary feat by Erwin van de Looi’s side as de Godenzonen hit the men from Tilburg for five without reply – Riechedly Bazoer, debutant, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakim Ziyech, and a free kick a-piece from Lasse Schone and Abdelhak Nouri doing the damage for the hosts who also gave a debut to highly touted youngster, Frenkie de Jong – the 19-year-old replacing Bazoer for the final ten minutes of the contest.
Thursday’s cup action began at De Grolsch Veste in Enschede where Erik ten Hag’s Utrecht finally recorded their first victory of the season at the expense of their hosts, FC Twente.
Ajax loanee, Richairo Zivkovic put the visitors ahead in the 17th minute, but the hosts were back on level terms early in the second period – Manchester City loanee, Enes Unal netting with 54 minutes on the clock.
However, ten Hag’s men weren’t to be denied their first win of what has been a torrid start to the season – Sebastien Haller restoring the visitor’s advantage with two minutes left to play before Zivkovic ensured that the 2016 finalists would be in the hat for the second round draw by netting his second of the game and third in two games deep into added time.
Elsewhere, Henk Fraser’s Vitesse Arnhem ran riot at Derde Divisie outfit, De Dijk – hitting the fourth tier side for seven with goals from Chelsea loanee, Lewis Baker, Kelvin Leerdam, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Milot Rashica, Arshak Koryan and a double from Adnane Tighadouini. The hosts had briefly made a game of it when Harry Zwarthoed made the score 2-1 four minutes before the half time interval. Yet, by the time Dennis Kaars netted in the 67th minute to make the score 5-2, any chance of an upset was long gone.
Another side to run riot in front of goal on Thursday night was Tweede Divisie side, TEC who put five past Derde Divisie opposition in the form of HSC ’21 – Jos Peltzer, Jip Bartels, Kay Huijgens and a double from Wimilio Vink putting the visitors out of sight before Cenk Uguz responded for the hosts with eleven minutes remaining.
Thursday’s cup action was concluded at De Kuip where Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s unbeaten cup holders began their defence of the trophy at home to Eerste Divisie strugglers, FC Oss – who came into this encounter with the Eredivisie leaders off the back of having recorded just their second win of the season – hitting FC Eindhoven for six just under a week earlier.
Against the odds, it was the underdogs who silenced the previously partisan home support when Tom Boere tapped the ball into an empty net following a collision between visiting forward, Istvan Bakx and Feyenoord ‘keeper, Brad Jones.
However, the hosts were back on level terms just 9 minutes later – Watford loanee, Steven Berghuis beating Oss ‘keeper Ronald Koeman low to his near post with a rasping drive.
Yet, the floodgates failed to open thereafter – Feyenoord finding their lowly visitors in stubborn mood until their impressive resolve was broken in the 68th minute – Michiel Kramer notching his first goal of the season before the hosts put the game out of sight with further goals from Bilal Basacikoglu in the 76th minute and substitute, Nicolai Jorgensen deep into added time to maintain the Rotterdam giants’ 100% start to the season and book their reigning cup holder’s place in the second round of the competition.
RESULTS
Capelle 0-4 Groningen
Rijnvogels 0-1 Cambuur
Scheveningen 1-2 Emmen
Rijnsburgse Boys 0-2 Almere City
JVC Cuijk 1-3 SC Telstar
NAC Breda 0-2 VVV Venlo
Volendam 3-3 MVV Maastricht (Volendam win on pens)
EVV 0-3 RKC Waalwijk
Den Bosch 2-3 FC Eindhoven
Barendrecht 0-1 Excelsior
IJsselmeervogels 3-1 Achilles ‘29
Kozakken Boys 3-0 Helmond Sport
HHC 2-2 Jodan Boys (Jodan Boys win on pens)
Heerenveen 5-1 De Graafschap (AET)
Dongen 1-3 Go Ahead Eagles
PSV Eindoven 4-0 Roda JC
Excelsior Maassluis 1-3 Heracles (AET)
NEC Nijmegen 1-1 ADO Den Haag (ADO win on pens)
Sparta Rotterdam 3-1 FC Dordrecht
Achilles Veen 1-4 VVSB
UNA 1-0 Huizen
De Treffers 0-3 ASWH
Spakenburg 2-1 Fortuna Sittard
Lienden 1-4 AZ Alkmaar
Koninklijke HFC 6-1 OJC Rosmalen
DVS ’33 1-4 PEC Zwolle
Katwijk 2-1 Harkemase Boys
Ajax 5-0 Willem II
FC Twente 1-3 FC Utrecht
De Dijk 2-7 Vitesse Arnhem
HSC ’21 1-5 TEC
Feyenoord 4-1 FC Oss
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