Willem II are now the favourites to earn the automatic promotion spot to the Eredivisie after overcoming league leaders FC Dordrecht 3-1 on Friday night. The Tilburg side stay in second but are now just one point adrift from the top spot with a game in hand over their rivals.

Willem’s top scorer Ruud Boymans, on loan from AZ Alkmaar, lead his side to the all-important victory scoring a double including the opener after just three minutes. Brazilian forward Bruno Andrade got the second just after the half-hour mark to send the hosts in two goals to the good. As Dordrecht pressed for goals to try and get back into the game, Boymans hit his second on 68 minutes to cement all three points. The visitors got a last minute consolation goal through Paul Gladon but Dordrecht will be hoping that De Graafschap can do them a favour on Wednesday, when Willem II travel to Doetinchem in their game in hand.

The biggest win of the weekend was Excelsior 8-0 drubbing of Telstar in game which saw the Rotterdam side five goals up at half-time. Eerste Divisie top scorer Lars Veldwijk took his tally to 25 goals in 33 games with a hat-trick as fellow striker Kevin Vermeulen notched a brace. Scoring was complete by Moroccan midfielder Adil Auassar, Ricky Kruys and Lars Hutten netting the other three goals.

Third-placed VVV Venlo maintain their playoff position with a 2-1 home victory over FC Emmen, thanks to goals from Oguzhan Tuerk and Prince Rajcomar after Ronald Bergkamp had grabbed a equaliser for the away side.

RESULTS

Friday 4th April

WILLEM II 3 – 1 FC DORDRECHT

VVV VENLO 2 – 1 FC EMMEN

FC OSS 0 – 3 ALMERE CITY

TELSTAR 0 – 8 EXCELSIOR

HELMOND SPORT 0 – 1 FC VOLENDAM

Saturday 5th April

MVV 3 – 0 ACHILLES ‘29

SPARTA ROTTERDAM 2 – 3 FORTUNA SITTARD

Sunday 6th April

JONG TWENTE 2 – 1 DE GRAAFSCHAP

Monday 7th April

JONG PSV 1 – 2 DEN BOSCH

JONG AJAX 1 – 4 FC EINDHOVEN

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of WhoScored.com

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With only seven games taking place due to a large amount of police presence issued to work this week’s Nuclear Security Summit 2014 in Den Haag, only two of the top five played with both coming out on top.

Second-placed Willem II were not in action this past Friday evening which allowed FC Dordrecht to stretch their lead to four points on Friday night with a 3-1 victory over Jong Twente. Youri Leon put the league leaders ahead after 20 minutes but soon after the half-time break, Kristopher Vida equalised for the Twente reserve side. Two goals in the last six minutes courtesy of Paul Gladon and Genaro Snijders clinched the victory.

VVV-Venlo comfortably sit in third four points ahead of Excelsior in fourth with a hard-fought 3-2 win over FC Oss. Venlo took a first-half lead through a Leon de Kogel penalty, which was the strikers 11th goal of the campaign. After Jorzolino Falkenstein equalised just before the hour mark, VVV stepped it up a gear and regained the lead nine minutes later with Oguzhan Turk grabbing the goal. Dyon Gijzen looked to cement the points six minutes before time, but Johnatan Opuku Agyemang notched in the 90th minute to give Venlo an unnerved few minutes before the full-time whistle.

Jong PSV missed the opportunity to leapfrog into fifth when they fell 3-1 away to Volendam. The division’s top scorer Robert Mühren notched twice to take his tally to 23 in 27 games with a Ludcinio Marengo goal in injury time to seal the win. PSV’s young central defender Menno Koch scored a second-half penalty which proved to be nothing but a consolation.

Ronald Bergkamp scored the only goal of the game in FC Emmen’s win over FC Eindhoven as the highly-rated Abdelmalek El Hasnaout notched Jong Ajax’s only goal in their 1-0 away win to Fortuna Sittard.

Helmond Sport and Telstar cancelled each other in a 1-1 draw with an early Serhat Koç goal giving the hosts the leas but a late Toine van Huizen leveller meant the points were shared.

Down at the bottom, Achilles ’29 gained a point at home to Sparta Rotterdam but they still sit rock bottom on just 22 points.

RESULTS

Friday 21st March

FC EMMEN 1 – 0 FC EINDHOVEN

FC VOLENDAM 3 – 1 JONG PSV

FC DORDRECHT 3 – 1 JONG TWENTE

ACHILLES ’29 1 -1 SPARTA ROTTERDAM

VVV VENLO 3 – 2 FC OSS

FORTUNA SITTARD 0 – 1 JONG AJAX

HELMOND SPORT 1 – 1 TELSTAR

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of WhoScored.com

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On Friday evening the most unlikely result of the Eerste Divisie season so far was witnessed as 19th place FC Oss handed 15th place FC Emmen an unbelievable EIGHT-nil pasting writes Will Burns.

The relegation threatened FC Oss have been improving in recent weeks but no-one expected a score like the one we saw on Friday evening. Dennis Janssen opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour before Jonathan Opuku and Lorenzo Pique added to the tally before half-time. Janssen added his second, while Marko Maletic netted early in the second half. Ryan Sansai and Guyon Phillips added to the rout before Maletic grabbed his brace to send Emmen home with their tails between their legs.

FC Dordrecht grabbed top spot after a great 2-0 away win against title rivals VVV Venlo on Friday night. Paul Gladon gave the visitors the lead in the first half before Giovanni Korte added a second in second half stoppage time. VVV’s chances of getting back in the game were hampered by defender Jeffrey Altheer receiving a red card midway through the second half. Venlo are now third, seven points away from Willem II in second.

Promotion hopefuls Willem II sit in second after Jong PSV hit two late goals to pinch a 2-2 draw on Monday night. Ruud Boymans scored his 20th of the season and Terell Ondaan add a second to fire the Tilburg side ahead but PSV full-back Joshua Brenet grabbed on what was thought to be an 85th minute consolation for the home side. The PSV reserve side did not give up and in the final kick of the game Alex Schalk scored the equaliser to send Willem II back to Tilburg with just the point.

Excelsior missed the chance to go in third falling at home by the single goal to MVV Maastricht. Twenty-one-year-old Belgian midfielder Marco Ospitalieri notched the only goal of the game.

De Graafschap moved up to fifth with a 2-0 win away to Telstar thanks to the young strikeforce of Nathan Kabasele and Vincent Vermeij notching the all important goals.

Jong Ajax came from behind to defeat Achilles ’29 in a great 2-1 win on Saturday. The part-timers went ahead through Thijs Hendriks on 54 minutes before Serbian winger Dejan Meleg equalised just after the hour mark. Highly-rated Danish playmaker Lucas Andersen got the winner with twenty minutes of time remaining.

In other games, Helmond Sport were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Fortuna Sittard as Sparta Rotterdam fell to a 1-0 defeat while entertaining Almere City a day later. On Sunday, FC Volendam lost 2-0 to Den Bosch while Jong Twente defeated FC Eindhoven 1-0 on Monday evening.

RESULTS

Friday 14th March

EXCELSIOR 0 – 1 MVV MAASTRICHT

VVV VENLO 0 – 2 FC DORDRECHT

FC OSS 8 – 0 FC EMMEN

TELSTAR 0 – 2 DE GRAAFSCHAP

HELMOND SPORT 1 – 1 FORTUNA SITTARD

Saturday 15th March

SPARTA ROTTERDAM 0 – 1 ALMERE CITY

JONG AJAX 2 – 1 ACHILLES ’29

Sunday 16th March

FC VOLENDAM 0 – 2 FC DEN BOSCH

Monday 17th March

JONG PSV 2 – 2 WILLEM II

JONG TWENTE 1 – 0 FC EINDHOVEN

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of WhoScored.com

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