FC Dordrecht vs NEC Nijmegen Predictions

NEC are now unbeaten in six after a thumping 5-0 success over Almere City last week, and Jack De Gier’s side are finally starting to gather some momentum as they seek to hunt down a Play-off place. This Friday’s game at 17^th placed Dordrecht looks a fairly soft fixture for the Nijmegen outfit on paper, but the hosts will be buoyant after notching their third consecutive win on the road at Cambuur on match day 26.

There’s no doubting that it’s been an extremely poor season for NEC, who were expected to challenge for automatic promotion after their 3^rd placed finish last term, but it could all come good for the Nijmegen side in the final third of the campaign.

A run of six Eerste Divisie matches without defeat has seen De Gier’s charges claw their way up to 13^th in the table, and they are just five points adrift of the Play-off spots going into the final 12 games of the regular season.

With the wind in their sails, it’s hard to bet against NEC breaking into the top nine, and they could even sneak a Play-off berth by finishing as low as 11^th if ineligible teams Jong Ajax and Jong PSV hold their prominent positions in the standings.

The January arrival of prolific talisman Ferdy Druijf from AZ Alkmaar has unquestionably been the catalyst to NEC’s recent turnaround (the 21 year-old has banged in seven goals already in Nijmegen colours), although it was Jonathan Okita who starred last week with a brace against Almere City at Goffertstadion.

The 5-0 romp was particularly impressive as City were on a run of three straight league wins, and De Gier’s men have now smashed in 14 goals in their last four matches.

That spells bad news for a Dordrecht side who have conceded a massive 55 goals in their 26 league outings this term, and Claudio Braga’s side have been particularly frail at home of late with 16 goals shipped in their last four appearances at Riwal Hoogwerkers Stadion.

Schappenkoppen have been playing really well on the road and notched their third successive away victory at Cambuur last Friday, thanks to stoppage time goals from Daniel Breedijk and Jeremy Cijntje, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that they are without a win in five at home where they have lost eight of their 13 games this season.

Nonetheless, NEC’s recent wins have all come at home and the visitors actually go into this Friday’s game searching for their first away success in nine.

So although the Nijmegen outfit rate as the most likely winners in this fixture, we’re happy to swerve the match betting and instead focus on the goals markets.

Over 3.5 goals has been a feature of the host’s last four fixtures and three of the last four for the visitors, so backing that outcome here looks favourable at odds-against, despite August’s reverse encounter featuring just the one goal as NEC came out on top. With NEC preferred for the three points again in this clash, we’re also going for a 2-3 correct score in favour of the Nijmegen side.