Ajax Reserves vs Roda JC Predictions

Roda JC’s excellent start to 2019 came to an abrupt end last week with a surprise 1-2 defeat at home to Almere City, but Robert Molenaar’s side won’t be too concerned at this stage. The Kerkrade outfit have a comfortable cushion in the Play-off places as a result of winning eight from their last 12, and should easily make the end of season shoot-out if they continue in the same fashion. Nonetheless, the bookies appear to have written them off for this Monday’s clash against Jong Ajax, which gives punters a decent opportunity as round 24 plays out to a close.

Roda were well below their best at Parkstad Limburg Stadion last week, as they were roundly expected to see off an Almere City team who had lost their last six league games on the spin.

After going 0-2 down early on, leading man Mario Engels gave hope of a comeback from the penalty spot towards the end of the first half, but Roda’s impetus was extinguished ten minutes into the second period after Daniele Zotti saw red.

So Molenaar’s side clearly have a point to prove this Monday evening as they travel to Sportpark De Toekomst, but their status as 4/1 outsiders to land the spoils in Amsterdam is pretty unfathomable.

They got the better of the argument 2-1 when the teams met in Kerkrade earlier this season and 13^th placed Jong Ajax go into this week’s match having failed to win any of their last four.

After a respectable 2-2 draw with adversaries Jong PSV in early January, Jong suffered comprehensive defeats to RKC (4-1) and Volendam (1-3) before blowing a two goal lead against strugglers Dordrecht (3-3) last time out.

That’s hardly form worthy of making them odds-on favourites here against a side who are seven places and five points better off than them in the league standings, even if their overall home record this term has been strong with seven wins and a draw garnered from 11 matches.

Granted, Roda have been quite inconsistent on the road this season with four defeats suffered from their 11 away fixtures, but that record isn’t quite as concerning when you consider that three of those losses have been against sides currently sitting above them in the table.

If Molenaar’s men are capable of quickly putting last week’s poor effort to bed, they can easily get a result this Monday. They’ve shown over the last three months that they’re amongst the best sides in the second tier, whilst Jong Ajax are a shadow of the team which lifted the title in 2017/18.

So we’re recommending a two point stake on the visitors at huge odds, and a repeat of August’s 1-2 score line could also be on the cards in what should be a really entertaining clash.