Hoofdklasse Men Round 8: Amsterdam End Oranje-Rood’s 32-Game Unbeaten Run and Go Top
Thirty-two games. That’s how long Oranje-Rood had gone without losing a regular league match. Amsterdam ended it on Sunday, 3-2 in Eindhoven, and went top outright in the process.
This was the game the round was built around. Three sides went into Sunday locked together at the top, and the two form teams met head on. Oranje-Rood hadn’t lost in the league since anyone could remember, and Amsterdam had failed to beat them in their previous three meetings. None of that mattered. Amsterdam went to Eindhoven, scored three, and left with the points and first place.
The table tells the story now. Amsterdam sit alone on 22 points from eight games, seven wins and a draw. Den Bosch are second on 20, Oranje-Rood third on 19. The three-way tie is gone.
Den Bosch will feel they let one slip. Their six-match winning run ended in a 2-2 draw at Bloemendaal, who keep proving they’re a different side at ‘t Kopje. Den Bosch stay unbeaten in nine, which is some consolation, but Amsterdam are the ones with daylight now.
The bottom finally moves
At the other end, Schaerweijde are off the mark at last. They beat fellow winless side Tilburg 3-1, and that changes everything down there. Schaerweijde had nothing from seven games. Now they’ve got three points and something to build on.
Tilburg, meanwhile, are stuck on zero and their losing run has stretched to nine straight. That’s a new negative club record. The eight-match run had only equalled the one from 2017-18. This is worse, and it needs stopping fast.
Klein Zwitserland ended a five-match winless run of their own, beating SCHC 2-0 at home. And the strangest season of all rolls on for the champions. Rotterdam drew 0-0 at Pinoke, which means they still haven’t found any rhythm. Five defeats from seven before Sunday, and now a goalless draw. They can score goals, but nothing about this campaign looks like a title defence yet.
HDM and Kampong shared six goals in a 3-3 draw. Kampong will be the unhappier side. They’ve now slipped up in two top-of-the-table clashes in a row, and the top four are starting to pull away from them.
Round 8 results, Sunday 8 November: Bloemendaal 2-2 Den Bosch; Oranje-Rood 2-3 Amsterdam; HDM 3-3 Kampong; Klein Zwitserland 2-0 SCHC; Pinoke 0-0 Rotterdam; Schaerweijde 3-1 Tilburg.
For our money, the title race just got a favourite. Amsterdam have the best defence in the league, they’ve now beaten the side nobody could beat, and they’re top with a game in hand on nobody. Den Bosch and Oranje-Rood can still catch them, but they’ll have to do it the hard way.
