Despite losing the match 2-0 against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/NEC-c40018 Nijmegen, the 42-year-old tactician was pleased with his side’s efforts and expressed confidence of avoiding relegation to Eerste Divisie.
De Graafschap head coach, Richard Roelofsen, was pleased with his side’s efforts against NEC Nijmegen despite losing the match 2-0. The two sides met at McDOS Goffertstadion on Sunday, April 1.
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vitesse-c40905 player has admitted that he warned his side about NEC, but his troops failed to cope with the home side’s dominant display in the midfield.
“I warned the players before our clash against NEC that they are a good team. Especially, they have a strong midfield and they play impressive football. We had little to answer”, Roelofsen was quoted as saying to Voetbal International.
Lasse Schone broke the deadlock in the 12th minute after putting continuous pressure on the Superboeren defence. The visitors managed to gain momentum as the game progressed, but Lion Kaak’s red card in the 42nd minute changed the momentum
back in the favour of NEC.
Genero Zeefuik doubled his side’s advantage near the hour mark. No more goals were added in the remaining action, as the match ended in a comfortable 2-0 win for NEC.
The Dutch trainer went on to admit that his side managed to perform better as a unit and did create few opportunities along the way, but his side’s chances of getting a good result were heavily dented after Kaak received his marching orders.
“As the match progressed, we started to play better as a unit. We had some corners and created few opportunities, but we failed to convert. It was all then changed when Lion received a red card”, Roelofsen added.
Nonetheless, the 42-year-old tactician did take some positives from the game, and has expressed confidence that his side can avoid relegation to Eerste Divisie come the end of the season.
“There are some positives to take. Everyone put in his 100 per cent. But we must work on our mistakes as well. We must try to better our performance in the remaining games”, Roelofsen concluded.
De Graafschap are currently sitting rock bottom on the table, a mammoth 13 points adrift of the safety zone. However, the Superboeren have a good chance of prolonging their stay in the Dutch top tier through promotion/relegation play-offs.
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