Today a topper was on the program. On the Herdgang the no.2 PSV E2 played against the no.3 Geldrop E1. A win for PSV would be good business. The E2 would remain in the race for the championship and the lead over Geldrop would grow to 6 points. Also the E1 would then do good business. The difference between E1 and Geldrop would then be as much as 9 points. But as I said, we had to win. The previous matches Geldrop had shown itself to be a formidable opponent.
The initial phase is a bit of a trial and error on both sides. After a minute in three, the first chance comes for PSV. Rico plays Arne well in the middle, who sends Greg away, but he hits the Geldrop goalkeeper. Moments later a good action by Benji who plays off his opponent but his cross comes just a bit too short for Arne. PSV gets stronger and Rico turns away from his opponent and finds Bryan who in turn finds Arne, but now the post is in the way. A minute later the goal was scored. Bryan conquers the ball in midfield and finds Greg who scores with a flaming shot 1-0. PSV is now well underway. A nice attack from behind through Benji-Arne-Bryan and finally Greg made it 2-0. In this phase, PSV played great football. They found the free man well and when they lost the ball they put direct pressure on Geldrop in their own half. Niels and Greg got a few shooting chances, but either the goalkeeper was in the way or the goal was just not big enough. Just before half time Geldrop gets its first opportunity, but the shot ends up in Pepijn's hands. Immediately afterwards a good attack follows via Tijn. After a combination with Niels, Tijn crosses the field and sends Greg into the depth, after which Greg takes a brilliant shot. 3-0 is the score at half time. A good first half and the score at halftime could have been even higher. At the start of the second half, PSV continued their efforts. A high ball from Tijn is cleared with the hands and the referee awards a free kick (wasn't it a penalty?). However, Bryan's effort is stopped by the wall. Moments later, a corner kick for PSV. Greg's effort was initially stopped by the goalkeeper, but Niels was on the spot and put it under the bar. About 5 minutes into the second half, Benji made a great effort, but his shot went over. Geldrop is now getting a bit bolder and starting to win more duels. Pepijn was able to defuse the first two attacks, but he had no chance with the third, 4-1. In previous confrontations Geldrop had shown that it could take courage from the tying goal, but because PSV scored the next goal it was nipped in the bud. The challenge was to pick up the game from the first half and try to score 5-1. However, today PSV was increasingly under pressure and after losing the ball Geldrop scored the 4-2 fifteen minutes before the end of the game. In this phase nothing works and after fumbling it even becomes 4-3 and immediately Geldrop hits the post. In a quarter of an hour the match that seemed to have run its course is a game again. In the last 5 minutes it was a bit of a squeeze, but PSV recovered somewhat and played the game out. As you can see, the game is not over until the final whistle has sounded.

Report with thanks to Eric Zeegers