O15 loses topper
With three rounds of matches left to play, the O15s of PSV and Feyenoord met on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at De Herdgang. Before the start of this match, Feyenoord was tied for second place. Together with FC Utrecht it had collected nineteen points in twelve matches. Leaders Vitesse, however, already had 25 and also had a match to spare. And PSV? They were actually in a better position in terms of points lost than today's guests. Because with eighteen from eleven, they could take over second place today. Both teams even had a theoretical chance of winning the championship. Winning everything themselves and Vitesse losing everything would indeed mean a championship. And winning everything would have to start today.
The match got off to a slow start. Possibly the warm weather or the heavy tournament in England last weekend played a role. For the first fifteen minutes there was nothing to note. Apart from a couple of shots that could all be categorized as "testing the quality of the net". In the space of less than ten minutes, Feyenoord suddenly scored twice. First in the 16th minute a corner was worked in from close range and in the 24th minute it punished a mistake in the build-up. A few minutes after the 0-2, PSV had an excellent chance to connect. The Feyenoord goalkeeper caught a back pass in his hands, giving PSV an indirect free kick in the penalty area. This was shot hard by Milan Govaers, after which the ball hit the hand of a Rotterdam player. PSV got a penalty, but Iggy Houben failed to capitalize on the opportunity by shooting in too weakly. A bit exemplary of the Eindhoven players' play in the first half. Still, PSV got to 1-2 before halftime. Iggy tapped the ball off the foot of a defender halfway through the Feyenoord half, after which Jaivy Lourens ran with the ball and finished with a hard shot.
After halftime, PSV got into the game better. Sven Simons shot with the right hand side straight at the goalkeeper. Lars Putters was also very close to scoring the equalizer with a shot after good preparatory work by Chahid el Allachi and Jaivy Lourens. Despite PSV having more of the ball in the second half, Feyenoord were also dangerous. Fortunately, Kjell Peersman was able to make two fine saves. In the 47th minute, however, he was also on hand when Feyenoord quickly converted and scored the 1-3. PSV tried to put together a final offensive, but they lacked power, freshness and sharpness. There were still chances in the final minutes. Jaivy Lourens hit the keeper and Seb Loeffen's rebound was blocked. Finally a shot by Shi-jon Martina went wide via the keeper's fingertips.
Therefore, the match ended in a 1-3 defeat. A game of just not. With which a line can definitely be drawn through a championship. The chance was very small, but a small chance is also a chance. Next Saturday the penultimate league game: AZ away after which Tuesday, May 21 the league will be closed at home against leader Vitesse.
Setup:
Kjell Peersman; Livano Comenencia, Luc Netten (c), Milan Govaers, Yaël Gil y Muinos; Lars Putters, Sven Simons, Chahid el Allachi (44/Jesper Uneken); Iggy Houben (50/Seb Loeffen), Jaivy Lourens, Ruben van Bommel (44/Shi-jon Martina).
Yellow cards: Milan Govaers and Seb Loeffen