FC TWENTE (De Grolsch Veste)

EREDIVISIE, FC TWENTE 2-0 PEC ZWOLLE, ATTENDANCE: 24,900

My week's European adventure began in the Dutch city of Enschede with FC Twente taking on PEC Zwolle. After landing at Amsterdam Schipol it was a 2.5 hour train journey east to the city. After checking in at my bed and breakfast, it was back into town to sink a few pre-match beers at the fabulous Eet- en Bierencafé De Beiaard.

From the main train station it was a 10 minute train ride to the ground which has it's own station, Enschede Kennispark. De Grolsch Veste is coming up to it's 20th anniversary, having hosted it's first match on the 10th May 1998, a 3-0 win over PSV. The new ground replaced the Diekman Stadion, which was originally the home of Sportclub Enschede.

Tickets were purchased online, printed at home and there no need for any fancard. I sat in the upper tier of the East stand, which afforded a great view of proceedings.

The current club was formed in 1965 by the merger of Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys. Steve McClaren led Twente to their only Eredivsie title in 2010 (here is that famously funny interview clip, which is always worth a view) which is their only title win in their history, though Sportclub did win the league in 1926.

Having previously survived financial problems in 2003, when the club's parent company went bankrupt, the club were provisionally demoted to the Eerste Divisie in 2016 for financial irregularities, having been docked points (and also banned from Europe) on previous occasions in 2014 and 2015. The club won their appeal and kept their position in the top flight, which they had held since 1984.

However this season their luck could be finally running out and the spectre of relegation looms large. The club are currently bottom of the table, which is the only automatic relegation spot. Tonight was a must win game but not an easy task when you consider Twente had not won at home since October and hadn't won a game in the Eredivsie since December.

This clearly focused the minds and amazingly Twente pulled a result out of the bag. They were at PEC Zwolle, who also needed points in their push for European football, from the kick off and never gave the visitors any time to settle. The only surprise was that it took 21 minutes to make the breakthrough, Jeroen van der Lely scoring when a poor attempted clearance fell to him inside the area and he side-footed the ball home.

Michaël Maria made it 2-0 ten minutes before the break when he raced onto a through ball and then prodded the ball under the advancing Zwolle 'keeper. Inbetween the goals there was a contender for miss of the season as, when presented with the opportunity to roll the ball into an open goal, Fredrik Jensen proceeded to blast the ball over the crossbar!

The second half was a non-event as Twente seemed content with their lead and Zwolle failed to test Joël Drommel in the Twente goal. The noise inside the ground throughout the match was fantastic and the supporters really got behind their team, maybe that spurred them on a little more.

The other two teams immediately above Twente (Sparta and Roda JC) also picked up points in this round of matches so, with two games remaining, the best Twente can now hope for is a place in the relegation play-offs. Even by winning those two games though, they will be reliant on other teams doing them a favour to reach the play-offs.

Unfortunately, I have to say, It does not look good for Twente and they look like going from Champions to the Eerste Divisie in just eight years. 

FC UTRECHT (Stadion Galgenwaard)

EREDIVISIE, FC UTRECHT 1-2 PEC ZWOLLE, ATTENDANCE: 15,831

Day three and it was west to Utrecht, the fourth largest city in The Netherlands. Utrecht is essentially a student city as Utrecht University is the biggest in Holland.

The old city though has many ancient buildings, dating back to medival times, and a picturesque curved canal, however this is not the first impression of the city you get as when you step off the train, you step into a modern shopping arcade!

As you would expect, I also found the splendid delights of some great beer houses, one of which (Oliviers) produces it's own ale on tap.

FC Utrecht came into being in 1970 as a merger of three clubs from the city of Utrecht: DOS, USV Elinkwijk and Velox.

Stadion Galgenwaard has been Utrecht's home since their formation but has been totally rebuilt in the last decade.

GOAL! The home fans
celebrate in style

The ground is a 10 minute bus ride from the station, but we opted for the 40 minute walk from the city centre, which was broken up by a visit to Ledig Erf, a fine drinking establishment, which is only 20 minutes from the ground. 

The bus to the ground stops near to the Ledig Erf but we opted to carry on walking. This was a great decision as the traffic was so bad that we beat the bus easily. There were also traffic problems outside the city for the visiting Zwolle fans and most never appeared until after half time.

Tickets again were no problem and readily available on the night. After leading 1-0 through Stoke City loanee Juan Agudelo's goal (24) and in control the home side were reduced to 10 men when Adam Sarota was given a straight card for dangerous play. 

As time ticked on Utrecht sat deeper and deeper and once Zwolle equalised through Denis Mahmudov's header (74) they inevitably went on and secured the win when Fred Benson (77) fired home.

Proper nutty - The Zwolle ultras finally arrive

VITESSE ARNHEM (Gelredome)

EREDIVISIE, VITESSE ARNHEM 0-2 AZ ALKMAAR, ATTENDANCE: 18,200

Tonight was the beginning of a jaunt across The Netherlands to take in four games/grounds in four days. The journey began in Arnhem, a city synonymous with Operation Market Garden during World War II. 

The British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the bridge at Arnhem. The units were parachuted into the area on 17 September 1944. They were dropped far from the bridge and never met their objective. 

A small force managed to make their way as far as the bridge but encountered stiff resistance from the German SS Panzer divisions, which had been stationed around the city. The forces at the bridge eventually ran out of ammunition and were captured on 21 September and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on 26 September. These events were dramatised in the film 'A Bridge Too Far'.

I also paid my respects by visiting the War Cemetery in Oosterbeek, which contains the graves of most of those killed during the September landings. Quite a sobering experience.

As a tribute, the rebuilt bridge was renamed 'John Frost-bridge'
after the commander of the paratroopers

Back to more trivial matters, it was a 10 minute bus ride from the main train station to Gelredome stadium.  Opened in 1998, as a replacement the Monnikenhuize Stadion (where Norwich City played in their famous 1993/94 UEFA cup run) the ground has a retractable roof (which was closed tonight)  and a pitch that can also be retracted when concerts or other events are being held at the stadium.

There were no issues with tickets and they were readily available to buy on the night.

Once in the ground, It was a strange sensation watching the match as it felt as if I was watching a game in a leisure centre! 

The atmosphere was pretty good until AZ Alkmaar took a 2 goal lead before half time. An own goal from on loan Chelsea player Patrick van Aanholt (20) and an Aron Johannsson (42) effort gave the visitors a comfortable lead.

At the interval lots of home fans began to drift away and the game petered out in the second period as Vitesse never looked like getting back into the game. The loss was their 3rd straight defeat and seriously put a dent in their title aspirations.

A flag in the home end illustrating
Arnhem's links with Stamford Bridge

Proper nutty - The AZ fans at the Gelredome