Eerste Divisie 1998/99 The new season started badly, with a loss to Eindhoven and a draw against Zwolle - both ay home and without scoring goals. Apparently some more things were wrong as well, since trainer Kees Zwamborn was fired quickly after having given an interview to the Brabants Dagblad. On September 8, he was replaced by Martin Koopman, until then the assistant trainer at FC Groningen. The new coach had an impressive start, first drawing with his former club, then league leaders without having lost a point, and then winning six matches in a row, four of them away, before drawing away at promotion rivals Excelsior. The next match, against another promotion candidate, Go Ahead Eagles, ended in an impressive 5-2 win, including the first goal from returned old hero Hans Gillhaus, but was followed by a disappointing home draw against traditional victims Telstar, which handed the first period title to Excelsior. Revenge was duly taken with a home win over RBC followed by a stunning 7-1 at Haarlem - the record away win in the professional history of the club. A later away draw at Helmond handed the second period title to Emmen, but after taking revenge in Eindhoven for the only defeat in the season until then, Den Bosch led the table by five points at the half-way stage. The first away defeat, at Zwolle, reduced the advantage to just two points; this was followed by four straight wins after the winter break, and then an unexpected loss at home against Heracles, last in the table. Fortunately, Den Bosch immediately bounced back with a 1-0 away win at second placed Emmen, which reduced the number of promotion rivals to one. The next two away matches seem to have settled promotion: first Volendam were beaten 4-1, then Groningen, second placed and the only rivals for automatic promotion, 2-1; after that match Den Bosch boasted an 8-point lead and had won the third period (only relevant for the teams eyeing 6th place in the table, which will now entitle to the playoffs). Two points were dropped after a 3-1 lead at home against Excelsior was squandered (3-3 the final score) but after a 2-1 at the Eagles, a 4-1 at home to Den Haag, and a 2-1 win in Roosendaal, FC Den Bosch are promoted to the eredivisie again! In the remaining matches of the season, they established a winning margin of 13 points over Groningen. Check here for more data on the regular season. All results: against home away total 98/99 overall total 54-99 Dordrecht '90 2-0 4-1 2 2 0 0 6- 1 4 66 26 19 21 114-100 71 [D.F.C., F.C. Dordrecht, D.S. '79] Eindhoven 0-1 4-0 2 1 0 1 4- 1 2 50 20 13 17 77- 63 53 Emmen 3-0 1-0 2 2 0 0 4- 0 4 16 4 6 6 18- 20 14 Excelsior 3-3 1-1 2 0 2 0 4- 4 2 48 16 19 13 63- 60 51 Go Ahead Eagles 5-2 2-1 2 2 0 0 7- 3 4 28 14 3 11 45- 32 31 [Go Ahead] F.C. Groningen 0-0 2-1 2 1 1 0 2- 1 3 46 11 17 18 43- 59 39 [G.V.A.V.] A.D.O. Den Haag 4-1 2-1 2 2 0 0 6- 2 4 26 12 5 9 47- 48 29 [A.D.O., F.C. Den Haag] Haarlem 2-2 7-1 2 1 1 0 9- 3 3 49 21 11 17 76- 63 53 Helmond Sport 4-4 1-1 2 0 2 0 5- 5 2 50 25 14 11 106- 53 64 [Helmondia '55] Heracles 1-2 3-2 2 1 0 1 4- 4 2 50 25 16 9 86- 61 66 R.B.C. 4-1 2-1 2 2 0 0 6- 2 4 28 16 3 9 58- 35 35 Telstar 0-0 1-0 2 1 1 0 1- 0 3 36 21 7 8 52- 29 49 [V.S.V.] T.O.P. Oss 2-1 2-0 2 2 0 0 4- 1 4 14 8 3 3 25- 18 19 [T.O.P.] Veendam 2-1 1-0 2 2 0 0 3- 1 4 54 19 16 19 73- 73 54 Volendam 3-1 4-1 2 2 0 0 7- 2 4 42 13 7 22 46- 68 33 V.V.V. 3-0 3-2 2 2 0 0 6- 2 4 48 14 14 20 67- 76 42 [F.C. V.V.V.] F.C. Zwolle 0-0 2-3 2 0 1 1 2- 3 1 40 13 11 16 56- 53 37 [P.E.C., P.E.C. Zwolle] Home record 17 9 6 2 38-20 24 778 362 208 208 1314- 943 932 corrected for 3/win 17 9 6 2 38-20 33 778 362 208 208 1314- 943 968 Away record 17 14 2 1 42-16 30 778 227 200 351 964-1298 654 corrected for 3/win 17 14 2 1 42-16 44 778 227 200 351 964-1298 690 Neutral venues 2 2 0 0 4- 1 4 Total 34 23 8 3 80-35 54 1558 591 408 559 2282-2242 1590 corrected for 3/win 34 23 8 3 80-35 77 1558 591 408 559 2282-2242 1662