PSV O15 hooks up with top spots
On a weekday Tuesday, PSV O15 and AZ O15 met at De Herdgang for their sixth league match. From the previous five games AZ gained three points more than PSV. To maintain their lead at the top, a home victory for the team of trainers Edwin de Wijs and Anthony Lurling was essential.
After an impressive minute's silence, the first opportunity was also immediately in the first minute when Matteo Dams shot wide in a promising position. In the counter attack, it was also AZ that showed its teeth by shooting hard into the side netting. The game went back and forth with a slightly stronger PSV. That had another chance in the eighth minute, but saw Isaac Babadi just fail to reach a fellow player in the Alkmaar goal area. And again, it was AZ that was threatening in the next counterattack when a cross from the speedy left-winger went wide. Four minutes later AZ swerved. Isaac Babadi crossed well after which Yaël Gil y Muinos extended the ball well. This also went past the goalkeeper, but unfortunately there was another Alkmaar defender on the goal line. Ruben van Bommel's rebound also failed to find a goal. PSV created quite a few chances in the early stages and continued to do so after the first fifteen minutes. After a quick one-two between Iggy Houben and Jesper Uneken an AZ player narrowly avoided further danger. And after twenty minutes Jesper laid the ball beautifully with his head back to Isaac who took a hard shot, but saw that the AZ goalie turned the ball just as beautifully. The rebounding ball was then shot wildly over by the same Isaac. Just like earlier in the match, AZ was dangerous again in the same minute. An AZ player was put free in front of goalkeeper Kjell Peersman via a header, but Kjell reacted attentively and blocked the effort. The last opportunity in the first half was for Ruben van Bommel, who curled the ball just wide after a long attack. Thus both teams went to the dressing rooms after a good, attractive first half.
PSV started the second half well. Ruben put Matteo away on the left, but his hard cross did not reach a fellow player. In the 40th minute the goal finally came. Lars Putters picked up the ball in his own half, immediately sent Iggy deep and Iggy passed the ball at the right moment to Isaac, who calmly slid the ball into the right corner from the edge of the box: 1-0. Even after the opening goal, PSV was the team with the better opportunities. But it was unlucky that in the same minute a hard shot by Iggy was twice turned away by the goalkeeper and both times the rebound was just not completed by Jesper. In the closing stages AZ took more risk, giving the home team more space in front. Because the final pass was often just not accurate enough, the meager lead of one goal remained on the scoreboard. In the penultimate minute Jaivy Lourens was very close to scoring 2-0, but he came a toe short to slide in a cross from Milan Govaers. In the final minute AZ had a chance to equalize, but Kjell had a cat-like reflex to turn a dangerous free kick into a corner. This was pumped into the box and Kjell again had to stretch to prevent the equalizer.
After some injury time, the well-flown referee finally whistled off after which PSV rightly stepped off the field as winners. A fine game was on the mat today with not only good football, but also acting as a strong collective. Next Saturday follows the away game against Feyenoord.
Setup:
Kjell Peersman, Livano Comenencia, Milan Govaers, Yaël Gil y Muinos, Koen Jansen (55/Julian Kuijpers), Lars Putters, Matteo Dams, lsaac Babadi (68/Shi-jon Martina), Iggy Houben (65/Sven Simons), Jesper Uneken (55/Jason van Duiven), Ruben van Bommel (55/Jaivy Lourens).
Yellow card: Lars Putters