Hoek squanders victory in Tiel: ‘We miss the over-my-body mentality’ | Amateur football

There were still about ten minutes to play at the De Lok sports park in Tiel on Easter Monday. Hoek had shrugged off the burden of a poor performance against Kloetinge (2-1 defeat) and led comfortably 3-0 through three quick transition moments, with Sylvio Hage and Steve Schalkwijk (twice) as cool-headed scorers. Finally recovery after three losses in a row. “We were on our way to three golden points against a title candidate,” said assistant coach Quincy Rombaut, “and then we still gave it away. I just don’t understand that.”

With TEC’s first goal in the 80th minute by Bo van Essen, in which the ball was deflected after a shot, little seemed to be going on, but when Niall Raben somewhat fortunately (he touched the ball after a shot from the second line with his heel) scored the 2-3 in the 89th minute, Hoek became a fragile whole. Ultimately, Pele’s 3-3 came from Anholt deep in injury time.

“This is not possible and should not be allowed,” said striker Steve Schalkwijk. “How can this be? Well, not well defended. That starts at the front and ends at the back.” With which the attacker once again emphasized the joint responsibility and identified an important Achilles heel. “At times we miss the over-my-body mentality. Either it’s not there or it’s gone, I don’t know. Of course I can’t see into the heads of my fellow players, but we are shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The striker was substituted in the 86th minute, with a 1-3 lead. He had done his job and was up. “I was going through it,” he said afterwards. “I was out for five weeks with that foot injury and it shows.” Tired as he was, he looked for a place in the dug-out, next to fellow striker Sylvio Hage, who had already dropped out, and the injured midfielder Giovanni. Delannoy. They then witnessed a hectic and crazy final phase, in which Hoek squandered their tenth competition victory. “What a season,” Schalkwijk said later. “You should check it out. We have already scored 59 goals this season, have the most goals of all and yet we are only twelfth.”

Trainer Quincy Rombaut could not reach it half an hour after the game. “The plan was correct, everything went perfectly,” said the coach, who had once again left captain Rik Impens out of the team. Augustine Loof also lost his starting spot. Wout den Engelsman now formed the heart of the defense with Gertjan Martens. Mathieu De Smet replaced Jahrdell Constancia, who was absent due to private circumstances. Just before Hoek kicked off against TEC, a substitution had to be made. Goalkeeper Finn Murre experienced too much trouble in the warm-up due to a groin injury, which meant that Lars Knipping was given his place back under the bar.

The Belgian goalie made an excellent impression and kept the Betuwe formation from scoring in the first half with three good saves. At the back, the central duo of Martens-Den Engelsman gradually became stronger as the game went on. They dominated the air and celebrated successful sliding tackles as goals. Even a new setback – Delannoy had to leave in the 30th minute with an ankle injury – did not throw Hoek off balance. On the contrary: via two quickly executed counters, with Hage (39th minute) and Schalkwijk (44th) as finishers, Hoek went into halftime with a 0-2 lead.

When Schalkwijk punished a terrible mistake by TEC keeper Bram Kaarsgaren in the 61st minute, the spoils seemed to have been won. So things turned out completely differently, to the horror of the staff. Not for the first time this season, Rombaut pointed out a lack of maturity. For example, Artuur Zutterman, who played a great match, went on an adventure in injury time, looking for the 2-4, but instead of passing the ball aside to Impens, he opted for an individual action, resulting in loss of ball. In addition, Hoek intervened far too slowly when shots were fired in the second line. Instead of throwing life and limb for the ball, the ball was now covered at a distance of three or four meters. “I had said in advance that a point against TEC after Friday would be a bonus point,” Rombaut said. “But it could and should have been three.”

TEC-Corner 3-3 (0-2). 39. Sylvio Hage 0-1, 44. Steve Schalkwijk 0-2, 61. Steve Schalkwijk, 80. Bo van Essen 1-3, 89. Niall Raben 2-3, 90+6. Pelle van Anholt 3-3. Referee: Pim Weghorst (Nijmegen). Yellow card: Mohamed El Makrini (TEC), Jelco Schamp, Artuur Zutterman (both Hoek). Number of spectators: 400.

Corner: Lars Knipping; Jelco Schamp, Gertjan Martens, Wout den Engelsman, Artuur Zutterman, Jarno Lion, Gilles Vandecandelaere, Giovanni Delannoy (30. Rik Impens), Mathieu De Smet, Steve Schalkwijk (86. Augustine Loof) and Sylvio Hage (67. Glenn Diedhiou).

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