Jonathan van Dorssen had his afternoon. His bet flew against the ropes no fewer than four times. He thus demolished GRC Groningen, which is in very tough relegation conditions after the heavy defeat (1-6). The GVAV shooter had fun, but also had a sudden unexpected announcement: he is quitting football.
The city derby was between two low-flyers in the first division J. Both GRC Groningen and GVAV Rapiditas hope to avoid direct relegation and play safely through the play-offs. A prelude to an exciting match at Corpus den Hoorn, but it didn’t turn out that way. The home team didn’t give up at all and didn’t stand a chance. And that was mainly due to the sharpness and hunger of Jonathan van Dorssen. It was already a hit in the first half, where the striker made it 0-2 and after the break there was no stopping it at all. Two accurate shots and an effective header and Van Dorssen was the winner of the match.
Never scored 4 times before
What did he say about it himself? “No, I have never scored four times in a league match before. Once in the cup five times, but that was against a fourth division team. I hit them well today, but also got a lot of space from GRC. They just kept playing one on one, I don’t know why. It’s nice that we win this, maybe we can still play it safe, but that is very difficult.”
And then suddenly, like a bolt from the blue: “But I will stop playing football.” What do you mean, only just 22 years old, right? “Yes, but I only want to play football at a high level. That’s just not possible at the moment.” GVAV trainer Dennis van den Driessche tried it again. “Let him say that he will still play for GVAV next season.” Jonathan with a laugh: “It’s a shame, but it’s not going to happen. Football is everything to me, but I only want to perform at a high level.”
There was great joy and satisfaction at GVAV, but how different was it at home club GRC. There a mixture of disappointment, anger and shame. “What a disaster, terrible,” was the sound from along the line. Goalkeeper Rutger van den Berg tried to explain the off day. “It’s not that we didn’t want to or didn’t feel like it. There was quite a bit of confidence before the match. But to be honest, it really didn’t seem like anything. We had no chance at all and that was really because of ourselves. We gave GVAV plenty of space and we achieved virtually nothing ourselves. I still think it’s quality, that we’re just not good enough. Yes, it will be difficult to avoid relegation, although we will do everything we can to at least reach the play-offs. Gloomy afternoon for us, that’s for sure.”
Nose broken
It quickly became clear that things were not going well at GRC. The first goal came from a penalty kick after Laurens Sembiring hung on Arco Bartelsman’s arm. Joel de Jong neatly scored the pin for 0-1. Not long afterwards, Van Dorssen headed in his first of four for 0-2. At GRC the bad moments piled up when Ronald Paans had to leave the field after a collision. “I already know, my nose is broken,” he said himself. “I’ve had this before and it feels the same again, I’m also a bit nauseous.”
For a moment it seemed that the home team would rally on the windy field of Corpus den Hoorn in the second half, but that hope turned out to be in vain. And suddenly things happened quickly. Van Dorssen and Daan van der Meulen needed two minutes to bring the score from 0-2 to 0-4. After a foul by Van Dorssen, Robert Smit was allowed to alleviate the suffering somewhat from the spot, but the hero of the afternoon showed no compassion and also made it 1-5 and 1-6. Painful for GRC. There, the coaching staff Gerard Zeeman (he will leave for Valthermond after this season) and Peter Visser will still have to do the necessary mental work to get their team on the same page again and increase self-confidence. Otherwise, the second class will be ready at the end of the line.
| GRC GRONINGEN | 1 |
| GVAV RAPIDITAS | 6 |
