Football – Netherlands – Eerste Divisie
Friday 22nd August 2014 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
Early Eerste Divisie league leaders Jong Ajax will be looking to preserve their 100% record with a win over Volendam in tonight’s top half encounter at their Sportpark De Toekomst ground.
Ajax’s second string have already registered back-to-back league wins over Telstar 3-0 at home and last Saturday’s 2-0 away win at Fortuna Sittard, and with momentum behind them, they’ll fancy their chances of taking something from this match today as well.
Jong Ajax finished last season in a bottom half position in 14th place with an overall home record of 9-4-6 33/29 but they’ve won eight of their last twelve at home with additional draws against Almere City 1-1 and Jong PSV 2-2. Notable wins during this sequence were over fourth placed Den Bosch and fifth placed VV Venlo (both achieved last season).
Visitors Volendam opened their account in this new season of the Eerste Divisie with a resounding 4-0 win away at FC Oss but then came crashing back down to earth last Friday night when they lost 0-2 at home to NEC Nijmegen.
Volendam’s away form has been occasional to say the least as they’ve registered just two away wins from their last eight matches on the road – wins at Helmond Sport 1-0 and Oss 4-0 (this season) were achieved against lower half teams and they struggled against the better sides on their travels.
Volendam’s away record last season interestingly almost mirrors the Jong Ajax’s home record (9-4-6 37/39) but they kept just two clean sheets all season away from home.
Jong Ajax stand a good chance of at least a point here tonight given Volendam’s leaky defence on their travels but as it’s still early days in the dutch second tire, I’ll back the hosts with the round ball here. Ajax might edge this perhaps 2-1 as a possible scoreline.
Pick: Jong Ajax AH0 @ 1.62 Bet Victor
