O15 comes up short against champion Vitesse

For PSV the last league match of the season was on the program on Tuesday night. And not just any game, because opponent Vitesse is the leader and needs three points to win the title with two games to play. A win against PSV would give the Arnheimers the title.

The opening phase was all about probing. Both teams had some chances. Vitesse using their fast forwards, PSV combining. The home team was unlucky twice that a hard cross was cleared just in front of the feet of a PSV player. While goalkeeper Niek Schiks saved twice just before halftime. Among other things by bravely getting far from his goal, turning the ball around and then pouncing on the incoming striker. Fortunately, both players were able to continue.

After halftime, the score kept things exciting. Soccer-wise it was not really high quality from both sides. And just like in the first half, both PSV and Vitesse had chances for the opening goal. In the 44th minute, Niek was again in the right place to turn away a header from close range. After which Iggy Houben almost turned in a free kick. With almost fifteen minutes to play, Vitesse was very close to the redeeming goal when a header hit the bar hard. In the counter attack, however, PSV had the biggest chance of the match. Jaivy Lourens was sent into the deep from his own half and was able to head towards the Vitesse goal with a defender next to him. His slide unfortunately went against the keeper's foot instead of into the goal. Seven minutes before the end, Vitesse took the lead. It was a dubious goal though; a free kick was pumped high into the goal area after which goalkeeper Niek was severely hampered in the five-meter area when handling the ball. It ended up in the goal after which the referee, despite the comments of the PSV players, awarded the goal anyway. Just before time, Vitesse decided the game when a hard shot from distance made it 0-2. With that the championship was a fact for Vitesse and the last league game for PSV ended on a sad note.

This last league game also meant (for the time being) the last youth game as head coach for Edwin de Wijs. After many years as responsible trainer/coach of the O15, he will use his knowledge and expertise as assistant at Young PSV. As staff we want to wish him a lot of success and fun in his new role. And of course we want to thank him for the fine, top cooperation in recent years and the many beautiful, memorable moments. EDWIN THANK YOU!

Setup:
Niek Schiks ; Livano Comenencia (c), Milan Govaers, Yaël Gil y Muinos, Koen Jansen (43/Julian Kuijpers); Lars Putters (36/Luc Netten), Matteo Dams, Sven Simons (36/Chahid el Allachi); Iggy Houben, Jesper Uneken (36/Jaivy Lourens), Shi-jon Martina (36/Ruben van Bommel).

Yellow card: Iggy Houben, Niek Schiks