Despite not playing all that well, the doom and gloom has been replaced with a relative happiness as Marcel Keizer’s boys managed to snatch three points along from a trip to De Kuip. Still, this season isn’t the greatest we’ve lived to see so far, but at least all seems a little more at ease because of the big victory over arch-rivals Feyenoord. Other stakes were present at De Toekomst though, as Jong Ajax made a trip to Deventer on Friday and the U19’s played the Mini-Klassieker against the Feyenoord U19’s.
On Friday night, Michael Reiziger and his boys travelled to Deventer to play against Go Ahead Eagles in the legendary Adelaarshorst stadium. Mitchell Dijks was the only official first team player to feature, with the rest of the senior squad preparing for Feyenoord away.
Ajax started out really well and created first danger early on, as Cassierra headed well-placed cross from Dijks into the goalkeepers hands with five minutes on the clock. Not much later, another chance followed, and this time it resulted in a goal. Dennis Johnsen was sent through on goal by a sublime through ball from Carel Eiting, with the Norwegian chipping it over the rushing goalkeeper. 0-1.
Highlights Go Ahead Eagles – Jong Ajax
Jong Ajax liep in de Adelaarshorst tegen de eerste nederlaag van het seizoen aan. ►SUBSCRIBE NOW http://ajax.ms/subscribe ►FOLLOW US Twitter: http://twitter.com/afcajax Facebook: http://facebook.com/afcajax Instagram: http://instagram.com/afcajax Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/afcajax
Go Ahead came back straight away, though, as former Ajacied Sam Hendriks displaced Norbert Alblas with a chip of his own, drawing the game 1-1. Despite conceding, Jong Ajax continued applying pressure and played the better part of football. It, would, however not lead to goalscoring chances. The Eagles, despite seeing less of the ball, did translate their chances into goals and Joey Suk was the one to put the home side up, after a big error in the defence.
Following the deficit, Ajax shited up one gear and grabbed the initiative but were done dirty Deyovasio Zeefuik’s red card. The young right fullback pulled down a player that was about to break away, resulting in him hitting the showers early. With one men less, the home side then pushed on and saw Xandro Schenk made it 3-1.
The second half started out quietly, with a minor chance for Cassierra being the only thing of note to happen until the hour mark. From nowhere, the Eagles managed to get the ball into the box and striker Leon de Kogel smashed it home, signing for the 4-1. Not quite the result Reiziger and co. had in mind, following their amazing start of the Jupiler League season.
On Saturday afternoon, there was a huge crowd at De Toekomst. And for good reason, as the Mini-Klassieker was played, the U19 game between Ajax and Feyenoord. The stands were packed with fans, waving around torches and singing loudly as the teams walked onto the pitch.
The game started out quite slowly and Ajax had a hard time getting forward, conceding a few small chances but nothing of note resulting from them. As the game went on, Ajax grew and the home side took the initiative. Feyenoord still got a few chances though, but couldn’t punch though. For a while it looked like the game would go into a 0-0 draw at half time.
But then Ajax appeared out of nowhere. Mitchell Bakker was sliced down inside the box as he went forward, resulting in a penalty kick. The confident Brazilian newcomer, Danilo Pereira, took place behind the ball and calmly fired it home to make it 1-0. Right after, as the fans were still celebrating, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp drew second blood, making it 2-0 at half time.
The second half began as the first one, quietly for a long time. Fifteen minutes in, the game sparked back into life, as Jurgen Ekkelenkamp brought his A-game. After Nunnely and Pereira set the midfielder up, he shot the ball high into the roof of the net for the 3-0. The goal meant game over, as Feyenoord’s resistance broke and the home support began another round of songs and taunts towards the Rotterdam side.
Heitinga then subbed in three new faces, in Brobbey, Jensen and Schön, and the aforementioned made an impact in the final few seconds, as he scored the 4-0 and his first ever U19 goal. The Mini-Klassieker was a comfortable and easy prey for Ajax in the end.