Sunday March 3, 2024
Heracles shared the points in the home match once morest Almere City. At its own Erve Asito it became 2-2 following a 0-2 deficit at half time. Vejenovic and Laursen were missing from the scoresheet for the home club.
Almere City deserved the lead
The first chances were for the Almeers, who immediately gained field dominance. Only following 10 minutes did Heracles get the first real chance. However, Oppegard was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. Slowly the Black and Whites came out of their shell and the game went more up and down. In the 19th minute it was Almere that was able to cut through the defense of the Herac residents and Cathline was able to pull the trigger: 0-1. The home team went looking for the equalizer but might not find it. On the contrary, Almere might counter to their heart’s content and from one of these attacks Hansen was knocked out by the unlucky Roosken. The penalty awarded by referee Higler was effectively shot in by Robinet. Heracles proved unable to change this deficit in the remainder of the first half.
Tension and sensation
At halftime, Heracles coach Van de Looi had a wide choice of players who were eligible for a substitution. He chose three; Roosken, Bruijn and Hansson. Instead, Wieckhoff, Bruns and Sankoh entered the field. The 2nd half started sensationally with a handball from Almere City in the penalty area. Hornkamp used the penalty impeccably and brought Heracles back into the match. In the 59th minute there was commotion when an elbow bump from Almere player Robinet on Leerdam, following assessment by the VAR, was punished with red. Leerdam might not continue and was replaced by Sonnenberg. Heracles immediately tried to express the numerical superiority in the equalizer and went all out on the attack. This produced the desired result in the 65th minute. Hrustic set up a one-two with Hornkamp and curled the ball beautifully into the left corner: 2-2. The equalizer left the team wanting more, but despite a series of good chances, the lead did not materialize. There was no further scoring in the 8 minutes of extra playing time, making the division of points a fact. Next week Heracles will play once more on Sunday and once more at 8 o’clock in the evening. This time an away match in Rotterdam once morest the highly ranked Feyenoord.
Statistics 3-3-2024 8:00 PM Heracles Almelo – Almere City 2-2 (0-2)
Scoring 19. 0-1 Cathline, 34. 0-2 Robinet, 47. 1-2 Hornkamp (pen), 65. 2-2 Hrustic.
Referee Higler
Peter Rewinkel
After the match, Mike Schippers from Aavisie spoke with captain Justin Hoogma and goalscorer Jizz Hornkamp. Watch the interview video:
Watch ESPN’s recap below:
