On Friday, Rotterdam Students (RS) 1 indoor football association lost their first match of the season. In the cup match, they were beaten 7-5 by HBSS 2 from Schiedam.

In a quiet Woudestein sports hall, Top Class team RS had a bad start when First-Class HBSS (two divisions lower) took the lead within three minutes. After that, the team coached by trainer Charl Sait had a hard time, at one point going down another goal.

It was thanks to set pieces (a goal from a corner and an excellent free kick) that RS levelled to 2-2 just before half-time. However, the teams went into half time with HBSS leading with 3-2, after an error in the RS defence.

Doelpuntenfestijn

After half-time, the goals came flooding in. In the first 10 minutes, both teams scored more than in the entire first half (of 20 minutes). Nearly every attack ended in a goal. Unfortunately for RS, the men from HBSS were particularly successful, so that the score after this phase was 7-5.

From then on, RS was on the back foot and, despite some wild attempts, was unable to score. So the final score remained 7-5.

'Een nuttige leerfase'

Player Oemar van der Woerd (master Health Care Management) knows where it went wrong. “Our passing wasn’t too accurate today. Also, our change of pace could be a lot better. On the other hand, I’ve seen some positive things today too. For example, we’ve worked hard on our corners, and that worked well.”

Their defeat means that RS is out of the cup. According to Van der Woerd, they had anticipated a poor start. “We have a whole new squad, with more EUR students than in recent years, and we have to get used to each other. We’re still building up the team and the cup is a useful learning phase for the competition, because it helps us sort out our playing system. Last year we were relegated from the First Division, but our primary goal now is to maintain our position in the Top Class with this new squad.”