The Report
On Tuesday night, PSV O15 faced Sparta in Rotterdam. With three games to go and three points behind leader Ajax, it was essential to travel to Eindhoven with the full score. It was precisely against Sparta that the team lost earlier this season. One of the two defeats suffered so far. And recently at a tournament a mutual duel ended in a 2-2 draw. That indicated it could be a tough game.
PSV's start was great! After Heritier Deyonge almost shot the 0-1 after just 40 seconds, it was a hit in the 3rd minute. Jason Pigmans rushed the Spartan defense, eventually conquered the ball and then delivered a fine cross that Jayden Braaf shot in at the far post. It didn't stop there in the opening stages. For after 11 minutes of play it was already 0-3. First it was Jayden again who scored after an assist from Jason and a little later Kees van Lindert lifted the score to a comfortable 0-3 after a cross from Jeremy Antonisse. As the Eindhoven team handled the numerous chances carelessly, they scored 'only' twice before halftime. Kees scored the 0-4, then Jason crowned his good first half with a goal after a nice pass from Ian Maatsen: 0-5.
After halftime, the picture of the game changed little. PSV dictated the game and strung together one chance after another. It eventually scored twice. Nigel Lonwijk scored from close range after a Spartan extended a cross from Ian. And after 46 minutes Jayden scored his fourth goal of the evening after a fine cross from Jur Clabbers: 0-7.
PSV thus achieved a very easy and very large victory. The only thing you could "blame" the team for is that it failed to win by double digits once. There was little to fault on the game. At times it was a joy to watch! Next Saturday the penultimate game, away to AZ. Coincidentally the other opponent PSV lost to earlier this season.
Setup: Peter Strijbosch; Thomas Cox, Nigel Lonwijk, Emmanuel Matuta, Heritier Deyonge (48' Amin Doudah); Joost de Schutter (42' Alberto Puts), Ian Maatsen (c), Kees van Lindert (48' Joep Kluskens); Jeremy Antonisse (36' Jur Clabbers), Jason Pigmans, Jayden Braaf.