Luca de la Torre and Heracles were unable to find the motivation to compete against their relegation-threatened foes, while neither Cole Bassett nor Richard Ledezma were called into actions when their teams faced off.
Willem II Tilburg 2 – 0 Heracles
With very little other than pride to play for, Heracles were thoroughly stifled on the road by Willem II Tilburg on Saturday, never looking like they were up to the task as they were easily shut out.
The American had his typically efficient day, although had troubles along with the rest of his team to help create any chances whatsoever to score. He did complete 41 of his 44 passing attempts and was accurate with all three of his long-balls, however only one two of his eight duels and was not involved in any scoring chances.
Overall, Heracles was heavily outplayed by their hosts. Even though possession was fairly evenly split, Tilburg’s 21 shots were 18 more than what Heracles could muster, and the home keeper had little work to do apart from a pair of low-risk saves.
The hosts did all the damage they needed inside of the opening 20 minutes. Wessel Dammers pounced on an uncleared corner at the quarter-hour mark, reaching out a foot to smack the ball over the line through a crowd of players.
Then two minutes later, they added a second when the gloriously named striker Jizz Hornkamp lunged forward to head in a cross from Derrick Köhn.
Hornkamp nearly added a third for his team in the 31st minute only to see his breakaway attempt blocked by Koen Bucker.
In the final moments of the game, Heracles were dealt another blow in addition to the loss, as rotational starting center back Sven Sonnenberg was shown a straight red, following a VAR review, for a reckless high kick.
The result drops Heracles to 13th place. While they are only five points ahead of the relegation playoff place with two games left, there is virtually no chance they will face the drop. They visit RKC Waalwijk on Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season.
Notes
Neither Cole Bassett nor Richard Ledezma made it off their respective team’s benches on Sunday evening as Feyenoord Rotterdam came back late to salvage a 2-2 draw against PSV Eindhoven.
