New season, fresh start!

We have a serious new contender for the title this year with Cambuur, who won the second league by a big margin! Lost Keys and defending champion Beawulf will certainly do well again too.

Delft hopes to be able to end on the 4th place again and steal as many points from the top 3 as they can. Champions League qualification is the goal, but this won't be easy.

Houtsnippers, Dokkum, Houten, Almere and Alphen all should be considered serious rivals.

Good luck to everyone in the new season!

Invincible Delft 4 - 0 SC Houtsnippers

Delft started this season with a home match against the team that took the 3rd place last season by passing us in the last 2 rounds. In this home match it therefore seemed important, but far from easy, to get the full 3 points.

Delft played an excellent match, though Houtsnippers got a lot of chances they didn't convert. Delft on the other hand opened the score after a series of corners when Vincent de Boer finally hit the target to score the first goal of the new season. Defender De Boer was Delft's topscorer last season with 8 goals.

This season however, it's Andre Dost who is expected to be the teams best scorer. He emphasized this by scoring the 2-0 and the 3-0 today.

Even before the break, Berard made it 4-0 for Delft, making it clear that Delft would start the season with a victory.

In the second half nothing noteable happened, but that was perfectly fine for Delft who couldn't have wished a better start.

Invincible Delft 2-2 Dalfsen United FC

In a dissapointing match, Delft failed to beat the king of draws. In our own stadium we had to be content with only 1 point.

Delft played a horrible first half, creating almost no chances. Thiemo Koudijs, who transfered from Delft to Dalfsen this summer opened the score against his former employer in the 11th minute.

While it took Dost only 2 minutes to level the match, this wasn't enough to conceil that Delft was having problems to get control over the visitors.

The first half ended with only a few more chances from both sides and no goals. In the second half Delft regrouped and did a lot better, turning the number of chances in their advantage and scoring the 2-1 when Dost scored his 4th goal in 2 matches.

For a long time it looked like this would be the decisive goal, as Dalfsen rarely became dangerous in the second half, but when they were given a free kick in the last few minutes they grabbed this chance and scored the 2-2. Delft got their own free kick immediately after that but they didn't manage to score so it stayed 2-2.

Invincible Delft 2-1 GAE Deventer

Last year, Delft already lost any title aspirations after the first 7 matches (6 draws and one loss). This year we start with three home matches so we're eager to get a good start. After the draw against Dalfsen a win today was needed for that though.

Deventer made a statement in the 12th minute already though saying they wouldn't be cooperating on the plans of the home team. Defender Koen Storback scored from a corner, making it 0-1 in favor of Deventer.

2 minutes later, Delft captain De Boer returned the favor by scoring the equaliser, also in a corner situation.

When, in the 18th minute Dost found himself alone in front of the keeper and scored the 2-1 things looked bright again for Delft and it seemed this might become a big-scoring game.

However, after turning a 0-1 score around into a 2-1 lead in just 6 minutes, Delft showed signs of nervousness keeping the match undecided till the very end. Delft got more chances but didn't score any while Deventer had a couple of chances to score the equaliser. Fortunately, Delft was saved another scenario like the previous match and managed to held on to its lead till the final whistle.

With 7 points in 3 matches, Delft has a decent start, but will now face the most serious challenge so far since a visit to Dokkum is scheduled on monday. This team recently defeated Lost Keys in the same stadium, so Delft is warned for what may lie ahead.

Today, another edition of the "Admin Clash" was scheduled. After a draw in Dokkum and a win for Delft at home, Invincible has a slight advantage in the encounters between the dutch admin teams, but as we saw in Dokkum's opening match: no team is getting free points in "De Horizon". The stadium was fully sold out today with all 1500 seats occupied.

Armand Fluit was the first player to be noticed when getting a deserved yellow card in the second minute of the match. The Invincible coach was heard shouting it should have been red but it made no difference. The resulting free kick was taken by Boerdijk but De Koning held on to the shot.

In the 27th minute, Fluit put his mark firmly on the match when he received a second yellow card and was sent to the locker rooms after all. The young midfielder from Dokkum will have some explaining to do as he let his teammates down today.

So far Delft was holding up pretty well in this high-stake match, with De Boer playing an important role in the defense. However when they were a bit slow in returning after a counter, Dokkum countered and Plouviez scored the opening goal.

Delft kept confidence and, as he's done several times before, Dost quickly leveled the match at 1-1 only a few minutes later, shortly before half-time.

Both teams tried tried to win in the second half and both teams got a lot of chance to do so, but it stayed 1-1. A result both coaches could live with.

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SC Dokkum - Invincible Delft 1-1 (1-1)
42' Bernard Plouviez 1-0
44' Andre Dost 1-1

Red cards: -
Yellow cards: 2' Fluit, 27' Fluit, 61' Van Tiemh

The goal for Invincible was clear. At home against FC Ede only a victory would count.

Delft had to win today and that's what they did. They weren't spectacular but decided the match in the first half and booked a solid victory. The first goal was made in the 5th minute by Andre Dost. He has scored in each match so far and should be considered a serious contender for the topscorers title this season.

In the 31st minute Boerdijk increased the margin when he scored from a free kick. It was the first goal of the season for this promising young midfielder and only his second for Invincible.

In the 36th minute Delft was awarded a penalty when Dost was fouled in the penalty area. As usual, De Boer stepped up to take the penalty and once again the captain didn't fail, putting Delft at a 3-0 lead which would surely be enough to claim the victory today.

Delft fell back in the second half, this is becoming a tendency this season. Of their 12 goals, only one was scored in the second half. Today was no exception as they seemed happy enough with their 3-0 lead. As the defense stayed solid though, the match ended with the half-time score still on the scoreboard.

Delft will be happy with this victory, but since Lost Keys and Cambuur also won their matches they will stay on the 5th place.

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Invincible Delft - FC Ede 3-0 (3-0)
5' Dost 1-0
31' Boerdijk 2-0
36' De Boer 3-0 (penalty)

The next opponent for Invincible was a team that's been on an unlucky streak. After they started the league with an away victory they got only two points in the last 5 league matches and were eliminated in the cup. Still, Delft's manager warned his players not to underestimate this opponent. With the quality of their selection and the support of their home crowd it would be naive to expect an easy match.

Delft's players are more of the "can you show us?" type so Alphen obliged them by showing what the trainer meant when they scored in the 2nd and 10th minute and took a bold lead.

Things looked bad for Delft, but nothing is lost when Andre Dost is still on the field. As is already become his trademark he again was the one to inspire the team to get through a difficult situation. In the 17th minute he scored the 2-1 and only 11 minutes later he leveled the match at 2-2. Delft was back in the match and now the warning registered.

In the 37th minute, Boerdijk saw an opportunity when he received a pass from Aravjo and tried a difficult shot at goal. The keeper didn't expect this and looked a bit silly when Delft completed their comeback by taking the lead.

That concluded the first half. Delft's second halfs are traditionally uneventful so the few Delft fans that traveled to Alphen already started thinking about going back home.

In only the 65th minute however, Delft got another blow when Alphen forward Muller scored the 3-3. Delft couldn't afford a draw as they are already 4 points behind the number 1, so they had to keep pushing.

In the 74th minute it was again Boerdijk who put Delft in the lead when he scored from a free kick. 3-4. No more goals were scored, but with 7 goals in one match the spectators had nothing to complain about. Delft got a very good and hard-fought victory. Still, they will have to wonder what happened to their defense that was so reliable last season.

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Alphen City FC - Invincible Delft 3-4 (2-3)
2' Kraakman 1-0
10' D'Albert 2-0
17' Dost 2-1
28' Dost 2-2
37' Boerdijk 2-3
65' Muller 3-3
74' Boerdijk 3-4

Fans of Invincible will be talking for a long time about the substitution of Dost at half-time after a weak Gilze en Rijen side won a point against the ambitious Delft team. It's true that Dost wasn't at his best but media feel the star forward should have deserved more credit.

Delft started very well on this match, getting a lot of chances to take the lead, some of them small, some of the huge but all of them missed. As this went on, the away team became more inspired as they started believing they could get a good result today. They even created some decent chances of their own and Delft was lucky things didn't get worse.

Fortunately, the visitors were equally inefficient so the defenses of Invincible, often criticised this season, managed to record their second clean sheet. The match ended as it started, with 2 huge chances in extra time, but Fersyeur and Viidojković both missed, so Delft lost valuable points in their campain for a champions league ticket.

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Invincible Delft - SC Gilze en Rijen 0-0 (0-0)

Yesterday Delft played the first of two consecutive top matches as they visited Lost Keys.

In the first half, things didn't look so bad for the visitors. Delft had more chances, especially Dost was often dangerous. National keeper Arno Wiersma had no trouble keeping his goal clean though.

In the second half, the quality of the Lost Keys selection prevailed. With the defense out of position, Bellahem finally scored putting the home team in the lead. Delft tried to get the equalizer, but in the 86th minute it was again Bellahem who scored, securing the victory for Lost Keys.

Delft travelled back home dissapointed. Though the victory for Lost Keys was deserved, Invincible now has to win against Cambuur this morning to keep their hopes for champions league qualification alive.

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Lost Keys United - Invincible Delft 2-0 (0-0)
64' Abdelkader Bellahem 1-0
86' Abdelkader Bellahem 2-0

The second big match for Invincible also ended in a defeat. Playing at home against Cambuur it became clear that Delft is not a title candidate. They never had a chance to win this match. Goals by Kamerling and Chidambaram put Cambuur at a 0-2 lead by the 27th minute.

In the 39th minute, Klinkenberg scored but it hardly gave the home team hope since they were lucky to have "only" 2 goals against.

In the 56th minute, Sadami found himself facing the keeper with Dost and Nieuwenhuizen by his side and no defenders nearby but he decided to shoot himself and missed.

If you miss chances like that you're not going to win, so when Cambuur scored the 1-3 it was no surprise. Delft has only 12 hours to recover and be prepared for another difficult match in their first cup appearance.

Can they put these matches behind them and avoid a third dissapointment in a row tonight?

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Invincible Delft - Cambuur 1-3 (0-2)
7' Kamerling 0-1
27' Chidambaram 0-2
39' Klinkenberg 1-2
78' Nobel 1-3

Delft started their cup campaign with an away match against one of the top teams in league [3.1]. After two losses in a row, it became clear that Delft is not a title favorite and that even champions league football is far away. The fans are now desperate to have a good result in the national cup.

In the 18th minute, Dost broke a non-scoring streak of 3 matches when he opened the score at 0-1. After dissapointing defensive results, Milton was finally replaced in the goal by a young african lad no one had ever heard of before. His first performance was a good one though as he easily kept his goal clean and took the 0-1 lead into half-time.

Early in the second half, an unusually inpsired Delft side quickly increased the score by goals of Dost and Neerhout to 0-3 and thus seemed to settle the match, which experts predicted to be a difficult one for Delft.

In the 65th minute, Hoogteiling even added the 0-4 but that was to be the last bit of pain the home team had to suffer tonight.
In the remainder of the match the defense of Delft easily kept the goal clean so Invincible starts the cup with a very good away victory. With the league title out of sight, can Delft prove to be Invincible in the cup?

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FC Almere City - Invincible Delft 0-4 (0-1)
18' Dost 0-1
50' Dost 0-2
56' Neerhout 0-3
65' Hoogteiling 0-4

Before the match against Rijssoord, the manager of Delft warned his players to look out for the scoring abilities of Baal. We shouldn't expect the clean sheet he said so we need to score goals.

And that they did. A free kick in the first minute and two corners in the second and third didn't result in a goal, but in the 7th minute Boerdijk passed to Neerhout who didn't fail and scored the 0-1. In the 15th minute, Hoogteiling took his chance in a corner situation and scored the second goal and Dost completed the opening offensive with two goals in the 22nd and 24th minute: 0-4!

A monster score appeared to be forming, but after the 0-4 the Delft players thought it was enough. A goal from Vamsi followed quickly, making it 1-4 but no one expected the game to be exciting again. Yet in the second half that's what happened after Baal scored in the 54th and 58th minute making it 3-4!

Delft was woken up, but the quick attacks from the first half weren't working any more. It stayed 3-4 till the 90th minute when Boerdijk, who played a near perfect match used a free kick to settle the match at 3-5.

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VV Rijsoord - Invincible Delft 3-5 (1-4)
7' Neerhout 0-1
15' Hoogteiling 0-2
22' Dost 0-3
24' Dost 0-4
39' Vamsi 1-4
54' Baal 2-4
58' Baal 3-4
90' Boerdijk 3-5

After away victories at Rijsoord and Astar, Delft travelled to Almere for another away match.

Almere is a dangerous team that isn't doing too well though so far in the new season. Last year they were one of the easiest-scoring teams though so Delft came prepared.

In this match, Almere got a lot of chances, more than Delft even, but at times they were careless, at other times they were unlucky and on some occasions Delft's new keeper showed off his talent. Either way, Almere failed to score even a single goal while Dost underlined his quality by goals in the 19th and 27th minute and Neerhout settles the match in the second half at 0-3.

With the third victory in as many away matches Delft recovered excellently from a two match losing streak. The question is now whether they can continue this form for their upcoming match against close rivals FC Hoorn and the cup match against Robur et velocitas.

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Almere city fc - Invincible Delft 0-3 (0-2)
19' Dost 0-1
27' Dost 0-2
55' Neerhout 0-3

As the chances on the league title this season already seem very slim for Delft, Invincible switched his priorities to getting a good result in the national cup. After a difficult away victory in the first match, we now received Robur et velocitas at home. This is one of the most popular teams in the netherlands, despite playing only in league 2 so the fans looked forward to this clash.

In the first half, things looked very good for Invincible. Robur got hardly any chances while Delft built a solid lead with goals from Hoogteijling and Dost.

In the second half however, disaster struck as goalkeeper Barry fell out injured after all substitutions had already been made. Captain De Boer had to take the post in the goal and Delft had to continue with 10 players. Suddenly a 2-0 lead didn't seem so safe any more.

De Boer made some great saves in his first appearance as goalkeeper, but in the 79th minute Lars Hardeman succeeded in getting a ball past him to score the 2-1. With more than 10 minutes to play an upset seemed to be possible, especially since the prospects of a possible penalty shootout didn't seem good without an experienced goalkeeper on the field.

Delft did the only thing they could in this situation: keep attacking. It was Roeland Klinkenberg who evoked a sigh of relief from the stadium when he scored the 3-1 in the 86th minute, securing a position in the quarter finals for the home team.

Goalkeeper Barry is receiving medical attention but is expected to be able to play in the league match later today.

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Invincible Delft - Robur et velocitas 3-1 (2-0)
22' Hoogteijling 1-0
41' Dost 2-0
79' Hardeman 2-1
86' Klinkenberg 3-1

I'm a bit too busy now to keep updating this log after each match but I'll try to add some things from time to time.

After a dissapointing start with losses to Cambuur at home and Lost Keys and Houten away and some draws against lower ranked teams champions league qualification seemed out of reach. A good run of victories in away matches and a 2-0 home victory against Beawulf saw us return to the top 4 however . If the team can keep this level of play anything is still possible.

Meanwhile in the cup the team booked excellent victories against two of the most popular teams in the netherlands, Robur and Cambuur to reach the semi-finals. In the league we lost the home match against Cambuur but in the cup we won keeping our hopes for a price this season alive. We'll now face the Houtsnippers in an away match in the semi-finals of the cup.

We won our previous 4 matches against them, but they ended last season on the 3rd place and now earned a place in the semi-finals of the cup so it's clear this team can't be underestimated.