Last week we lost the topper at Feyenoord under difficult conditions. A particularly bad pitch and a strong wind made good football almost impossible. Today the conditions were not much better. The field was not an obstacle this time, as we were playing on artificial turf. But the cutting eastern wind made you almost think De Herdgang was in Siberia.
Of course, both teams suffer from that. But the fact remains that the attacking side is at a greater disadvantage than the more defensive team. Wondering who would handle the conditions best today. As Charles Darwin said, "Survival of the fittest."
With NAC Breda we had an opponent today against whom we had something to put right. Earlier this season we lost 3-2 in Breda. Time for revenge!
Soon PSV created the first chance. Karim Bannani got through on the left and crossed to Mattias Verreth who was just a toe short to slide the ball in. Not much later NAC was close to the opening goal when a player was allowed to head in freely but fortunately could not give the ball much power. Still in the first 10 minutes, both teams came close to scoring their first goal. Joey Konings took a hard shot after Karim again got through on the left. His shot into the near corner was narrowly saved by the Breda goalie. The next attack NAC went close again with a header. This was the opponent's last exploit. Because PSV pulled the reins tighter and took full control. And continued to create chances and opportunities. But attempts by Lennerd Daneels (2x), Dante Rigo and Jaëll Hattu were not transformed into a goal.
In the end, everyone had to wait until the 19th minute for the opening goal to get on the board. Last man Kaan Tanriver got involved in the attack and set up a fine one-two with Dante, entered the enemy penalty area and delivered a fine cross to Matthias who shot hard inside. PSV continued to dictate the game after this goal. But had to wait until just before halftime to extend the lead. Lennerd sent a sensitive cross to the sprinting Karim, who had little trouble sliding the ball past the outflowing goalkeeper: 2-0.
After halftime, thanks to the amount of snow swirling from the sky, a yellow ball was deployed. That one today seemed much like the proverbial red rag and bull. Because PSV got wings in the second half and completely overwhelmed NAC. Immediately in the 36th minute, the score was lifted to 3-0 by Jaëll who took advantage of the rebound. Ymanual Hurkmans, sent off by Dante, met the feet of the Breda goalkeeper, but Jaëll managed to score. Not much later, Matthias scored his 2nd of the day. Once again, Karim mastered his opponent on the left. After getting to the back line, he put the ball back to Matthias who had no trouble scoring the 4-0.
And the cake was not yet over! Because PSV did not leave the crowd out in the cold today........ Joey Konings scored twice in a row by coming through from the right and sliding the ball into the far corner. Especially the last goal was preceded by a fabulous assist from Matthias. Matthias personally was responsible for the final score. First he shot a free kick from over 25 meters just wide of the post. And just before time he scored in a controlled manner after a good individual action.
NAC Breda could hardly do anything in return. Once Ymanuel had to clear a ball from the line, and once the striker was dangerous after a lazy build-up by PSV.
For those readers without a counter: the final score was 8-0.
Apart from the many goals, the whiter and whiter pitch (time to get the Christmas tree out of the attic), the return of goalkeeper Ieke Scheerhoorn was an absolute highlight of the afternoon. After a long injury, Ieke was allowed to get some match rhythm for almost fifteen minutes today, thus making his debut in league play this season. And he (together with the other goalkeeper Mike van de Meulenhof) kept the zero today. That must have been a nice feeling for Ieke! Despite the cold...


Mike van de Meulenhof (57' Ieke Scheerhoorn); Ymanuel Hurkmans, Kaan Tanriver, Lassane Faye,Roel van Linschoten (47' Ertem Bölükbas); Dante Rigo (c), Lennerd Daneels, Jaëll Hattu; Joey Konings, Matthias Verreth, Karim Bannani.
Yellow: Lennerd Daneels (hands)