After a well-deserved Christmas/winter break, ADO Den Haag entered the playing area for their first match of 2009 looking sharp and ready to take on the world. ADO pushed the Heracles players, forcing them to make early mistakes and not settle. This is a sign of things to come, as ADO won their first corner after just thirty seconds. ADO was certainly the hungrier team in the opening exchanges, as Heracles didn't even get into the opposition half until the sixth minute. In the seventh minute, the ball was given away to an increasingly confident Den Haag, as the ball crossed in low. The resulting shot was straight at Pieckenhagen, the Heracles goalkeeper.

For fifteen minutes the game slowed down from its earlier frantic pace. ADO was totally dominant, and kept Heracles on the back foot. Frustration from the visitors took over and some bad tackles started flying. All I can say is that the referee was having a very lenient evening. 

At twenty six minutes ADO broke the deadlock. An intercepted pass led to a quick passing move that resulted in Karim Soltani pulling back from his marker to fire ADO ahead for a well-deserved lead. After going behind, the tackling became even more frenzied and finally the referee ran out of patience and produced the first yellow card.

Heracles started to perform and applied pressure on the ADO defence for the first time in the game. A throw in on the left hand side managed to squirm its way through to Ricky van den Bergh, who hit a weak shot that just rolled past the diving outstretch hand of Zwinkels in the ADO goal. This led to a score of 1 – 1. Conceding the goal got ADO motivated again after they seemed to have taken a mid-half break. Again, quick pressurising of the visitors led to a cross coming over that the goalkeeper couldn’t handle. He and the ball were bundled into the net, goal disallowed. More intricate, crisp passing gave ADO the final chance of the half, only for Pieckenhagen to deny Knopper with an easy save.

The second half started the same as the first ended. ADO pumped up again, threatening the visitor’s rear guard. A scramble in the box was finally ended with a perfectly executed curling shot to the left of Pieckenhagen by Timothy Derijck. The score was 2 – 1 after fifty one minutes.

The game began to drift a bit as both teams settled down into a not-too-hurried rhythm, more like a game of chess. From out of nowhere, van den Bergh, Heracles' best performing player, found himself with a difficult opportunity to control a bouncing ball. This he struck beautifully trying to lift the ball over Zwinkels from twenty meters out, unfortunately as well as beating the keeper he also beat the crossbar by centimetres. Heracles finally began to show what they could do. A weaving run by Darl Douglas left the ADO defence and midfield in his wake, only to see a tame shot go to the keeper.

For fifteen minutes ADO stamped their authority back on the game, knocking Heracles out of their stride with some crunching tackles which left several of their players writhing on the ground. At seventy seven minutes ADO almost got themselves a well-deserved third goal as a free kick from Knopper flew just past the joint of post and crossbar. A quick break again left two ADO players against one defender and the Heracles keeper, only for a great opportunity to be spurned due to an over-hit wayward pass.

As the game entered the final ten minutes, Heracles began to apply some urgent pressure. Wave after wave of attacks down the flanks ended up with a corner. His ball was swung in and dealt with comfortably by the defence. The ball headed out thirty metres to what looked to be safety, only to be met with the sweetest of strikes from Emmanuel Boakye that flew straight into the back of the ADO net - giving Zwinkels no chance, 2 – 2. The heads of the ADO players visibly dropped as Heracles continued to pour forward. ADO defender Ahmed Ammi was lucky not to see a red card as he flung an elbow in to the face of a Heracles player. Credit must be given, as the player ignored the assault and only his team mates remonstrated with the referee, who clearly had not seen the incident.

The ninety minutes where up when Heracles attacked again. A wonderful cross was met perfectly by Votjech Schulmeister, whose effort was clawed back from behind the goal line by a desperate Zwinkels. The assistant referee waved away furious Heracles players after saying the ball did not cross the line, which it clearly did. Seconds later the final whistle blew to the relief of the players and fans of ADO.

Again ADO’s failure to last the whole ninety minutes cost them three points. It could have and should have been zero points. The referee was surrounded by Heracles players at the end who were not happy about the disallowed goal. ADO Den Haag had much more of the ball - at least 65% of play was with them. They dominated long periods of the game and deserved a win. The fans were as always amazing - they were deafening at times, only to go home deflated.

Man of the Match: Richard Knopper

Attendance 10,131

Next home fixture for ADO is in the Dutch equivalent of the F.A. Cup: the KNVB Beker. This coming Thursday 22nd January, they play against FC Twente. The kick-off will be at 8:00 p.m.

Neal McClimon

www.itpphotoghraphy.com

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