AZ Reserves vs Roda JC Predictions

Ferdy Druijf bagged his 11^th goal of the Eerste Divisie campaign last week, but once again it wasn’t enough to see Jong AZ through as Michel Vonk’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom club Dordrecht. The Alkmaar reserves seem to have played better this term than their 15th place in the table suggests, but ultimately they have just eight points on the board after one win and five draws from ten outings. Can Jong finally gain a second win of the campaign at home to Roda JC this week?

Ironically, Jong AZ’s only victory this season came against the current leaders Go Ahead Eagles, who they overcame 3-2 at AFAS Stadion on match day five. It looked as though that may be a real turning point for Michel Vonk’s side, but they’ve since lost to Den Bosch and drawn four against teams placed 16^th or below in the table.

Whilst unreliable from a punting perspective (at least in terms of results), Jong AZ do guarantee entertainment in their fixtures and a flood of goals at either end. Games involving Jong have produced the second highest amount of goals this season (34 from ten) and five of their last six outings have featured over 3.5 goals.

Amazingly, 11 of the 15 goals scored by Jong this term have come through Ferdy Druijf who tops the Eerste Divisie scoring charts, although his impressive tally has been boosted somewhat by the five penalties he’s converted. Nonetheless, Druijf’s contributions will be vital to any success Jong have going forward, and the Alkmaar outfit must start building on his efforts soon.

Friday’s opponents Roda JC have been something of an anomaly since returning to the second tier, and Robert Molenaar’s charges are in danger of becoming also-rans instead of promotion contenders unless results pick up quickly.

Roda were amongst the favourites to gain promotion before a ball was kicked this term but they’ve struggled to achieve any consistency thus far. With four wins, two draws and four defeats from ten matches, Molenaar’s side are languishing in 12^th place and have five points to make up on the top five.

With games against 18^th placed Jong Utrecht and 19^th placed Helmond Sport following this fixture, Roda do have a superb opportunity to get themselves back into contention over the coming weeks and nine points from a possible nine will certainly eat into the deficit they currently face.

But like Jong AZ, Roda are difficult to support with any hard earned at present as their performances vary significantly from one week to the next. A repeat of their showing in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Sparta would probably be good enough to turn Jong over here, but a performance similar to the 3-0 defeat at Go Ahead on match day nine would see them vulnerable.

So we’re turning our attention to the goals market here, and we fancy Jong AZ to be involved in another high scoring contest. Roda JC have conceded seven in their last three league games too, which bodes well for a wager on over 3.5 goals and small stakes on a 2-2 score line.