Cozakken Boys left Groesbeek with nothing to show but a 5:1 scoreline in the Dutch Cup second preliminary round on Wednesday evening. The visitors arrived with momentum and did not waste it, running riot against a home side that looked out of their depth from the opening whistle. And here's the thing — this was not a contest so much as a demonstration of one team's superiority.
The visitors struck first through J. Lommers in the sixth minute, catching Groesbeek before they could settle. S. Jalloh doubled the lead ten minutes later, and by then the home side was already chasing shadows. Two goals in the opening twenty minutes meant Groesbeek had to chase the game from the start, a task they would never complete.
M. Maletic announced himself on the stage in the fortieth minute, finding the net to make it 3:0. He added a second just after the hour mark, and to be fair, his movement between the channels caused all sorts of problems for a disorganised defence. By the time Maletic completed his hat-trick in the eighty-second minute, the result was never in doubt.
There was a sixth goal in the seventy-fifth minute, though the provider did not record who scored it. Maletic finished with three, but Cozakken Boys had already pulled away by then. One mistake ends it when you are playing a side this clinical, and Groesbeek made plenty.
Cozakken Boys arrive at this fixture having won four of their last five matches, with only a 3:3 draw against Kloetinge breaking their recent run. They beat XXK 2:1 on their most recent outing, building confidence before stepping up to cup competition. Groesbeek, by contrast, can only point to a 2:2 draw with Mirlo-Hout in their last outing.
The final scoreline tells only part of the story. Cozakken Boys have shown they can compete at this level, and Groesbeek will need to address issues before the next round. The away end never stopped, and neither did the goals.
