[Izulde]

@ Zwaluwen (6th)
G: Bartek Pakiela
D: Ertunc Yildirim/Adhil Mahdadi/Adil Mahdadi[b]/Jamie Jaliens
MC: Pascal Hettinga/Rudio Hidden
AMLR: Moreno Doekhi/Tiago Faria da Silva
ST: Derk Schut/Gokhan Pala

13 - Jaliens runs down a ball and taps to da Silva in the box. Center to Pala and the score is in 1-0

22 - Terrible free kick defense by Hoekstra. 1-1

Halftime sees Hoekstra and Hettinga's mistake-ridden selves pulled for Kurt and Oostenrijk respectively.

58 - Schut comes off for Leocadio

Bleh.

Dammes Waasdorp is tired of being stuck behind our Polish keeper, so he goes off to VS Vlissingen. Bye, man. You were decent but not great.

vs HZVV (11th)
G: Bartek Pakiela
D: Brian-Paul Tesselaar/Adhil Mahdadi/Patrick Ozinga/Jamie Jaliens
MC: Pascal Hettinga/Rudio Hidden
AMLR: Moreno Doekhi/Tiago Faria da Silva
ST: Derk Schut/Gokhan Pala

12 - Tesselaar with the play up to Doekhi. Center finds da Silva and he tricks the keeper from what is essentially PK range for his first Kampong goal!!! 1-0

53 - Hoektra for Mahdadi; Leocadio for Schut. In other news, [b]ARC]/b] is annihilating Roda '46 3-0 right now.

55 - Asmalash wins a war for the ball and passes down the right sideline to da Silva. I'm questioning the wisdom when two defenders are all over our young, insanely expensive Portuguese winger, when he all of a sudden cranks a high-volume highball that sees Leocadio smash in the short-range header for his first goal of the year! 2-0

60 - Hettinga to Hidden. Bomb out left to Leocadio and the center connects with Pala to pretty much put this one out of reach 3-0

All full-time starters other than the keeper were 7.1 or better, highlighted by Rico Leocadio's 7.6 off the bench, Moreno Doekhi's 7.8, and Tiago Faria da Silva's PotM-winning 8.2.

ARC trounced Roda '46 4-0, putting them behind the 8 ball as we head into the final stretch of the season.

February officially sees us cross over into the bleeding money category for the season with -$4k on the tally sheet. That's still not bad, however.

@ CSW (4th)
G: Bartek Pakiela
D: Ertunc Yildirim/Adhil Mahdadi/Patrick Ozinga/Hennos Asmalash
MC: Pascal Hettinga/Rudio Hidden
AMLR: Moreno Doekhi/Tiago Faria da Silva
ST: Derk Schut/Gokhan Pala

57 - Ahahaoui in for Doekhi; [b]Hoekstra[/b for Ozinga

68 - Pakiela blasts the goal kick down to Pala, who heads it right into da Silva's run. Two defenders on him in the box, but he shrugs it off with a cross that sees Schut finally hit the nets seconds before I was about to pull him 1-0

Roda '46 draws 2-2 as we get out this gritty win behind Rudo Hidden's 7.2 PotM. I think you can pretty much count them out of the race at this point. Whilst they have a game in hand and 7 matches left to play, they're 10 points behind us and would max out at 7 points behind with 6 left to go.

3 weeks of friendlies follow. ARC and Rota '46 both win their games in hand - 2 and 7 points behind respectively.

vs SVL (11th)
G: Bartek Pakiela
D: Brian-Paul Tesselaar/Adhil Mahdadi/Robin Hoekstra/Hennos Asmalash
MC: Pascal Hettinga/Rudo Hidden
AMLR: Moreno Doekhi/Tiago Faria da Silva
ST: Rico Leocadio/Gokhan Pala

34 - Hidden is booked with a double yellow. Pfeh.

36 - Pala is in trouble with four players surrounding him. He's able to outlet right to da Silva. Quick move by one of the four to move over for a double team, but the cross is already on its way for Pala to score the short-hander. 1-0

41 - Textbook pass interception by Doekhi to shoot the ball down the left flank to Leocadio. Dribble and cross. Pala's shot is bricked by the post, but the Turk stays on it and sinks his own rebound 2-0

67 - Ahahaoui subs in for Doekhi

68 - da Silva takes the ball and runs down the pitch, sweeping and shifting until he executes a perfect delivery in the box for Leocadio to convert 3-0

All full-time starters were 7 or better, with Tiago Faria da Silva (8.3) and PotM Gokhan Pala (8.8) imposing their will on everyone despite the early sendoff.

ARC could only manage a 0-0 draw, putting us back 4 points ahead with 5 to play.

@ Almkerk (15th)
G: Bartek Pakiela
D: Ertunc Yildirim/Adhil Mahdadi/Patrick Ozinga/Hennos Asmalash
MC: Max Oostenrijk/Jeroen Folkers
AMLR: Moreno Doekhi/Tiago Faria da Silva
ST: Derk Schut/Gokhan Pala

50 - Leocadio for Schut, who has been so awful lately, I'm starting to think his time is done.

56 - Yildirim throws in to Leocadio and gets it back. High ball box delivery, and I never tire of watching Pala leaping to smash in headers 1-0

59 - Kurt for Ozinga, who has been horrendous all game.

Hennos Asmalash led a spirited defensive effort with a PotM-worthy 7.5. Grinding wins gonna grind.

4 games left - 4 and 7 points ahead respectively of ARC and Roda '46.