The report

The sun was shining nicely over sports complex De Eendracht in Nijmegen, nice football weather for Mark van Bommel's boys. PSV knew it had to win to stay in touch with Ajax, the Amsterdammers had already taken three points in their home match against Feyenoord on Friday.

PSV kept N.E.C. under good pressure for the first 20 minutes of the match, only chances were lacking. In the 24th minute it was Justin Lonwijk who created the first danger with a nice deep pass to Amir Catic. Only the fast outside player's passes fell just short of the mark to break the score open. In the 26th minute, it was Lonwijk himself who almost surprised the N.E.C. goalkeeper with a nice long-distance shot. And not much later it was Lonwijk again, who shot a ball from Piroe on the edge of the sixteen-meter area hard at the goalkeeper. PSV was dangerous in front of the Nijmegen goal in that phase of the match. In the ^41st minute it was finally close. Robin Schoonbrood outmaneuvered his opponent and shot the ball into the near corner: 0-1. This was also the score at halftime.

After tea, N.E.C. came out of the dressing room a little different and put PSV under a little more pressure. This resulted in a small chance in the 49th minute, but nothing more. N.E.C. took advantage of a slip in the back to equalize: 1-1. This fortunately happened early in the second half, so that still gave PSV plenty of time to repair the damage. In the 73rd minute a deep ball to Catic followed, who shot the ball at the post, face to face with the goalkeeper. Ten minutes later the goal was scored. From a corner kick by Mohammed Ihattaren, Catic headed the ball in: 1-2. PSV gave nothing away after the renewed lead and even had a good opportunity to extend the lead through Aboukhlal. His shot - after beating the goalkeeper - was cleared off the goal line by an N.E.C. player. And so Mark van Bommel's boys took three important points back to Eindhoven. The next game is a catch-up match on Saturday, Feb. 17 at FC Utrecht.

Lineup: Van de Meulenhof, Wallenburg, Oostenbrink (79, Van den Berg ), Soulas, Daverveld, Schoonbrood, Aboukhlal, Lonwijk, Piroe, Ihattaren and Catic.

Photo report

View the photo report with photos by Paula Lenting here.