NOS Football•today, 2:18 PM
PEC Zwolle has almost secured another year in the Premier League thanks to a 3-1 win over Heracles Almelo. The team of coach Johnny Jansen has eleven points more than number sixteen RKC Waalwijk with three games to play.
Heracles has not yet completely put its relegation worries behind it. The Almelo club is in fourteenth place with 32 points, eight points more than RKC. The number sixteen after 34 rounds must play promotion/relegation play-offs.
PEC and Heracles had the same number of points after thirty rounds and were not inferior to each other in Zwolle either. Lennart Thy opened the score after stealing the ball from Heracles captain Justin Hoogma (1-0).
Not much later, the Zwolle striker also had the 2-0 on his shoe after a flawless cross from Silvester van der Water, but Thy did not hit the ball properly, causing it to fly high over the goal.
Heracles started playing better after Zwolle’s goal and was already close to the equalizer through Brian De Keersmaecker. Zwolle keeper Jasper Schendelaar, however, remained cool face to face with De Keersmaecker and kept a clean sheet for a while.
Heracles coach Van de Looi disappointed: ‘Were unrecognizable today’
But in the last seconds of injury time in the first half, Schendelaar was passed. Marko Vejinovic got the ball at his feet from a corner kick. He didn’t hesitate, shot hard and made his first Premier League goal in nine years.
Van der Water scores against old club
After the break, Zwolle had the better of the game, but it took until the 69th minute before the dominance was converted into a new lead. Van der Water was accurate from close range against his old club (2-1).
A third goal for the home team was then in the air. PEC trendsetter Younes Namli was close, but his shot deflected off the post. In injury time the score was 3-1, thanks to Filip Krastev.
