PSV D1 strengthened its leading position on the league table last Saturday. They won 2-1 at home against Roda JC while NAC was beaten 4-1 in Den Bosch. PSV plays next week in Breda and can, with a win, gain further ground on the competition. The team of trainer/coach Claudio Braga now has fifteen points from five games. A maximum result!
The crowd saw a very decent game against Roda JC on Saturday. Couldn't be otherwise with such ideal football conditions. A temperature of around fifteen degrees, dry, hardly any wind and a damp pitch; a little too wet perhaps, but still. From the kickoff, PSV put pressure on the opponent's goal which resulted in a rightly awarded penalty kick after only four minutes. Lennerd Daneels cut beautifully past his direct opponent on the right and was put down in scoring position. The penalty kick was fired in faultlessly by captain Mink Peeters: 0-1.
PSV tried to continue playing from the position of calm and organization, but could not prevent Roda JC from regularly popping up around Aaron van Engelen's penalty area. There were no major chances, but the defense of Twan Demin, Roel van Linschooten, Koen Vos and Ties van den Eijnde had to be alert and sharp. Until about the eighteenth minute, there then follows a phase with few chances. PSV dominates the midfield with Mink, Giovanni Nicolaas and Ertem Bolükbas, but gets little space from Roda to actually play football. Not many chances presented themselves. Roda JC also acted strongly at the back and striker Matthias Verreth was firmly restricted. There were chances when Ties played Matthias through the middle of the pitch, who shot fiercely, but just wide. Moments later, a wonderful ball from Twan to Matthias who sees his shot blocked in the penalty area. A minute later it was Matthias himself who played a tight ball to Lennerd. Lennerd swings his way towards goal, but his fierce shot goes narrowly wide. There was some tension near the PSV goal when Roda got a free kick. This one, however, goes high over.
PSV may be resting with 1-0, but everyone has the feeling that a second goal is needed to be really safe. Roda may not have many chances, but with one breakout it is easy to score the second goal. PSV starts brightly when Ties sends Mink into the depth in the second minute. Mink goes through and passes the ball to Matthias who only has to get past the goalkeeper. A bit too nonchalantly he shoots in, making the almost certain 2-0 pass PSV. Dante Rigo came on for the tired Giovanni Nicolaas. However, it takes a while before this fresh blood in the team yields results. PSV creates few chances and some sloppiness creeps into the game. Only in the twelfth minute something happens again. From a corner by Zohair Labyad, Ertem shoots straight at the goalkeeper, but his shot is an easy prey for the Roda goalkeeper. The Roda counter attack that follows is dangerous, but Roel intervenes well at the back. Then the redeeming 2-0. A rebounding ball from a corner ends up in the hands of Mink, who drapes the ball with great sensitivity over the goalkeeper into the left corner. A beauty!
Mats Grotenbreg then comes into the team for Zohair and Jeroen Swinkels for Twan. Goalkeeper Aaron van Engelen meanwhile has little to do and the final chord is for PSV. First an enormous chance for Matthias on a tight cross from Lennerd; he slips the ball just over and a little later again Matthias who cannot get the ball into the goal from a corner by Mats. In the very last minute, Roda JC does come back. Aaron was unable to control a simple shot (wet ball?) and the ball was shot hard into the net by a Roda player. It was an unnecessarily tense ending, but the full amount of money stayed in Eindhoven. A good game with a good opponent; we would like to see more of them.