The third and final practice game before the start of major league work, the D3 played against Feyenoord D2. The always fraught and exciting games against this club took place on a smooth artificial turf field fenced with high fences. And it must be said, at times we were eager to storm onto the field to encourage our players or to accuse those Feyenoorders of unsportsmanlike play. Fortunately, the referee did the latter for us.

The Feyenoord team, by the way, consisted of 99'gers who, unlike PSV D3, had been playing on 'big' pitches for a year and also had four intensive weeks of training behind them. Especially in the first half, that difference was evident in the game. Trainer Williamson agreed: "They have trained more and have more experience on a big field. You can see that in the game. They have clear agreements."

After the glorious victory in the practice match against Hoogstraten, the question was whether PSV would also be able to turn the match to its will with more opposition. In the first half, our boys were quickly confronted with the facts. Already in the first minutes goalkeeper Stan had to dive on the shot of a broken opponent, but moments later he could not prevent the high header from a corner; 1-0. PSV answered meagerly to this deficit. Cody and Lars tried from distance, but the ball bounced off the goalkeeper and into the side netting. There was a lot of ball loss and the attack could not be set up properly. On the second goal, Feyenoord played the PSV defense cleanly and our goalkeeper was defenseless. When the opponent took advantage of a misunderstanding with a back pass, PSV lost momentum.

Yet they recovered. Colin made changes here and there and the supporters also made their presence felt.
Moments later, Ruud sent Cody into the penalty area with a nice pass. Cody tried to pass the last man, but was illegally floored. Unfortunately, James was unable to capitalize on the ensuing penalty. Just before halftime, a strong defending Luc prevented the fourth goal.

In the second half, PSV turned coach Colin Williamson's pep-talk into action and the team showed more fighting spirit and assurance. The euphoric mood started with a strong run-out from goalkeeper Arne. Soon after, Robin gave an applause-earning wide pass to Jordan, on which the keeper ran very far out. Jordan put Ruud in position, but the ball ended up on the back of an opponent. Because PSV had things in good order defensively, the team came out better offensively. Things were not going well, however; Ruud's strong distance shot went just wide and the flashy three-banders of Jordan, Ruud and Roland were prevented by the defense. Cody's perfectly taken corners were mostly caught by the above-all goalkeeper. And Raphael's speed in front of the goal was not rewarded with a goal either. PSV did not manage to score. Disappointed, our boys walked off the field. The second half had played out almost the entire time on Feyenoord's side (except for that one breakout cq goal) and still they had failed to score a counter goal. Feyenoord simply had their organization on the pitch better together. Coach Colin was quick to turn the tide "they played well, especially the second half and I am confident that next time they will do better".

Report courtesy of Ank Gakpo - van Bommel