Van Duiven makes four against AZ

On a day you rarely play, leap day now falling on Saturday, PSV O15 had to play another top match. After the cup elimination last Wednesday (4-2 defeat away against Ajax), AZ visited Campus De Herdgang. In the qualifying round before the winter break, PSV won 3-1 at home and in Noord-Holland, the Eindhoveners were able to travel back to Brabant after a difficult game with a 0-0 draw. Prior to the game, both teams had six points. PSV needed two games for this point total. The guests needed one more, as they surprisingly lost the first game to Sparta.

The first shot on goal was an immediate hit. A shot by an AZ player seemed to be touched along the way, leaving Tijn Smolenaars with insufficient access to the ball: 0-1. Just three minutes had passed. PSV had more of the ball from then on and were dangerous via a lob from Elvic Jager. But AZ made it 0-2 in the 16th minute and PSV had to come up with something to turn the game around. And it worked! In the 22nd minute, captain Jason van Duiven narrowed the gap. He received the ball from Tim van den Heuvel and shot hard through the keeper to make it 1-2. A few minutes later the score was even when Elvic got through on the right, crossed and Jason finished: 2-2. Before half time the home team had a few more chances, which they did not capitalize on. Via an easily awarded penalty, Jason was lightly tapped in the box, PSV made it 3-2 before halftime. Jason himself took the penalty and scored a flawless hat trick.

After halftime, Onsime Zimuangana immediately had a dot of a chance, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper. Thus it remained exciting. In the 60th minute, the game looked like it might turn again. Elvic received his 2nd yellow card and was dismissed. With a quarter of a game left to play, PSV had to try to take the lead with 10 men. AZ smelled its chance and started taking risks at the back. This created large spaces that PSV continually dived into. Jason looked to take advantage of that space in the 65th minute by coming through from the center line. With a fine tackle on the ball, an AZ defender was able to contain further danger. Two minutes later there was an identical situation, only this time Jason could only be stopped by tapping him from behind. Because this happened inside the infamous lines, PSV got their second penalty. And again it was Jason who coolly found the net: 4-2. The match was not over yet. Just a few minutes later AZ was awarded a penalty after an Alkmaar player was held up, but Tijn Smolenaars turned the penalty away and kept PSV on course for victory. Everyone could see that this was not yet a game won. Especially when Tim van den Heuvel was sent off with a red card after a firm but correct tackle on the ball. The Eindhoven players had to play the last 10 minutes with 9 players. And did everything they could to keep the points in Eindhoven. Indeed, it took advantage of the spaces AZ gave. After Jason hit the roof of the goal from distance, Julian Kwaaitaal scored the 5-2 in injury time. With a clean kick out goalkeeper Tijn Smolenaars reached the deep running Julian who gave everything he had and showed his opponent his heels to shoot the 5-2 hard and dry.

So PSV won the topper against AZ in a weird, memorable match on a weird day. After clearing a 0-2 deficit and coming up short, that's a giant team performance! Compliments on that! The next game the O15 will play on Tuesday, March 10, away at Vitesse.

Setup:
Tijn Smolenaars; Reda El Meliani (52/ Arthur Piedfort), Bram Rovers, Joëll Gill'ard, Floris Bos (22/ Enzo Geerts); Tijn Vergeldt (72/ Floris Bos), Tim van den Heuvel, Jason van Duiven (c); Elvic Jager, Onesime Zimuangana (57/ Eus Waayers), Julian Kwaaitaal.

Red card: Tim van den Heuvel (immediately), Elvic Jager (2x yellow)
Yellow card: Reda El Meliani