PSV fell short of a point in Saturday's home match against No. 2 Sparta. Where PSV failed to express the odds in the score, Sparta proved very effective, even forcing PSV to clear a deficit twice.

The 1st half did not feature many peculiarities and ended in a telling 0-0 halftime score. Although PSV had several good chances to take the lead, the Sparta goalkeeper foiled a good effort by Joel in the 21st minute, and Sekou shot the ball into the side netting in the 27th minute after a fine move. On the other hand, Sparta almost got the 0-1 from PSV as a gift when the striker intercepted a curious back pass and could only go at Youri. However, the Spartan was forced to the outside and his effort ended up in the side-netting.

The second half looked completely different, and especially the last 25 minutes were very entertaining. Sparta took the lead twice, in the 45th minute from a free kick that was tapped in at the far post by a free Spartan, and in the 64th minute immediately after PSV had equalized. As PSV went on the hunt for the equalizer and eventually the full win, a fascinating battle ensued with lots of fighting, riots, yellow cards, time stretching and good chances, especially for PSV. 8 minutes before time, PSV made it 2-2 from a dangerous free kick by Gaetan, which was well headed in by Leandro. The cramping of the Sparta players gave PSV the extra time to score the winning goal, which almost happened. In injury time, substitute Yasin Leandro sent a great pass into the penalty area but the outgoing Sparta goalkeeper snatched the ball away from his feet.

A hard-fought point that caused disappointed headlines in the locker room not entirely justified, regardless PSV remain league leaders. Next Friday the rescheduled away match against AZ is on the schedule.

'45 0-1
'63 1-1 Joel Piroe
'64 1-2
'72 2-2 Leandro Fernandes



Youri Roulaux; Baggio Wallenburg - Gaetan Bosiers - Steven Theunissen - Lars Dickens; Justin Lonwijk - Robin Schoonbrood ('67 Koen Oostenbrink) - Leandro Fernandes; Cody Gakpo ('55 Yasin Aalillou) - Joel Piroe - Sekou Sidibe.
On the bench not substituted: Lucas Derks, Aboubacar Kone.

Yellow card: Lars Dickens, Yasin Aalillou.