The report

In the eighth final of the cup competition, PSV O15 faced sc Heerenveen under cold conditions at De Herdgang. Earlier this season, the same match in the regular competition yielded a spacious 6-0 victory. But especially the first phase, PSV had a very difficult time then. To qualify for the next round, coach Edwin de Wijs' team had to be alert and fierce from the first whistle today.

But the start was not anything to write home about. Because already within a minute the sc Heerenveen striker hit the outside of the post after inattention at the back. The home team got away with it! The next feat was PSV's: in the 5th minute Jasper Huijzer went well through on the right and his ball back to Mylian Jimenez was also good. Mylian took the ball from outside the sixteen full on the instep, but the Heerenveen goalkeeper's save was very fine. He tapped the ball just under the crossbar into a corner. Which was then headed just wide by Dylan Hopman. After Milan van de Riet failed to score twice with a distance shot, Heerenveen put the 0-1 on the scoreboard in the 28th minute. A throw-in allowed a midfielder to get the ball, who simply put a Frisian player in the penalty area in front of goalkeeper Aron van Lare. The Frisian kept his cool (could not be otherwise with this weather) and scored calmly.

After halftime, the game did not improve from either side. PSV tried, but the team did not look fresh and could not create much. It depended mainly on stationary situations to be threatening. But a free kick inside the sixteen, awarded for holding the ball too long by the goalkeeper, was shot hard into the wall. The game played almost entirely on Heerenveen's elft, but they did have the biggest chance for a goal. PSV was lucky that the striker tried to score from a long distance after a counter instead of running another 20 meters. This allowed Aron to make a simple save. PSV were unable to even the score and were disappointingly eliminated from the cup competition.

So the team can start focusing on the league and the tournaments to come. Weather permitting, it will play two games again next week. Tuesday is Twente at home, Saturday Ajax away. Two chances to quickly wash away today's hangover.

Setup: Aron van Lare (c); D'Leanu Arts, Jenson Seelt, Jesse Giebels, Nawaaz Landfeld; Mylian Jimenez, Dylan Hopman (52' Milan Vossen), Mohamed Nassoh; Jasper Huijzer, Milan van de Riet, Martijn Zuijderwijk.

Yellow card: Milan van de Riet