Ajax Reserves vs RKC Predictions

It was always going to be difficult for Jong Ajax to repeat their heroics of last season, but it really has been an indifferent start to the campaign for the defending champions. Michael Reiziger’s side suffered their fourth defeat in nine outings against Jong PSV last week, and head into match day ten 11^th in the standings as a result. Can Jong breathe new life into their season this Friday when they host 15^th placed RKC at Sportpark De Toekomst?

Jong Ajax looked to be on their way towards a fifth win of the season after Teun Bijleveld opened the scoring for them at Jong PSV last week, but goals from Ramon Lundqvist and Joel Piroe turned things around for Eindhoven to condemn the reigning champs to their third defeat in four outings.

Michael Reiziger’s team have been plagued by inconsistency this term with Eerste Divisie followers left guessing as to which version of the side will turn up week to week.

Results on match day’s seven and eight epitomise this, with Jong on the wrong end of a 0-3 home embarrassment  at the hands of 14^th placed FC Eindhoven before going onto trounce Telstar 3-0 at Sportpark De Toekomst a week later.

Overall though, it’s Jong’s poor away form that currently sees them in 11^th, with just one win and one draw gained from five games on the road.

Aside from the hammering they faced against FC Eindhoven, Jong have been strong at home with three victories banked from four fixtures, so Reiziger’s men will be looking forward to returning to Sportpark De Toekomst this Friday.

And in RKC, they take on a side that they’ve lost to just once in eight previous encounters.

Jong have four victories and three draws from those meetings, and ran out cosy 2-4 winners when the teams last clashed in Waalwijk back in January.

RKC have lost three of their four away matches in 2018/19 and go into match day ten with just one point in the bag from their last three Eerste Divisie games.

That came via a 0-0 stalemate at home to Oss on match day nine which was a fair effort from Fred Grim’s side, but they’ll need to raise their game considerably here to get anything should Jong Ajax put their best foot forward.

Of course, that’s a big ‘should’ based on what we’ve seen from Jong so far this term, and although the hosts are the most likely winners here, they make little appeal at heavy odds on.

Instead, we’re backing ‘no’ in the both teams to score market, with RKC drawing a blank in two of their last three away games and Jong Ajax keeping a clean sheet in two of their four home matches. Additionally, RKC have failed to score in five of their nine league assignments in total this term, so this bet has a decent chance of landing at odds against. For interest in the correct score market, we’re also going with a 2-0 Jong Ajax success for small stakes.