Week 20 Eredivisie Report – Vitesse held, Ajax clear at the top |

SUNDAY 26TH JANUARY 2014

Week 20 closed with just three games on Sunday as the Groningen-Twente match failed to take place due to a frozen pitch. The games that did go ahead provided great excitement and two more shock results to close the round of games.

SC CAMBUUR 3-1 HEERENVEEN

SC Cambuur provided their fans with a good day on Sunday with their first win in the Friese Derby since 1994.

Nigerian forward Bartholomew Ogbeche stole the show making his debut for Cambuur, creating one and scoring in the fantastic win. The hosts warmed up their fans in the Cambuur Stadion on a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon in Leeuwarden with a goal after just four minutes.

The goal was created by a long ball from the back of the Cambuur defence, Ogbeche rose above Joey van der Berg with ease to flick the ball into the path of on-loan striker Elvis Manu. Manu overpowered Christian Kum to win the ball and chip the ball over the onrushing Kristoffer Nordfeldt. The stadium erupted as Manu and Ogbeche wheeled away to celebrate with a dance at the corner flag.

Marco van Basten’s men should have equalized on 16 minutes by Leonard Nienhuis pulled off a great save to deny Hakim Ziyech. After Luciano Slagveer crossed from Ziyech just outside the area, Ziyech let fly with a right-foot volley but Nienhuis got across a tipped it out for a corner.

Just before the half-time whistle, Cambuur’s lead was doubled. Heerenveen’s on-loan defender Mitchell Dijks was penalised for a soft foul on Ajax team-mate Jody Lukoki, currently on-loan to Cambuur. The free-kick was given on the right-wing and Marcel Ritzmaier, also on-loan from PSV Eindhoven, whipped the ball into the centre. Once again, winning the aerial duel was Bartholomew Ogbeche who slipped Ramon Zoner to make it 2-0.

Heerenveen came out for the second half hungry for an early goal but they were unable to cope with the speed of the Cambuur attack and with just twenty minutes to go, the home side wrapped up the points. Manu slipped a defence-splitting ball through to Jody Lukoki who beat the offside trap and raced through on goal. With a one-on-one challenge with Nordfeldt, the 21-year-old kept his composure and finished coolly. The game was done and Dwight Lodeweges could be proud of his team’s performance today.

Before the final whistle could be blown, the inevitable happened as Alfred Finnbogason got a consolation goal for Heerenveen, his 19th goal in 17 games. However, it was an embarrassing defeat for Van Basten and his side and will look to bounce back next week at home to ADO. They now sit fifth and six points of fourth place. Meanwhile, for Cambuur the win lifts them up to 13th but they will need to build on this win to climb out of the relegation battle as Lodeweges men are still only three points off bottom side NEC.

TEAMS

CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Droste, Van der Laan, Bijker, El Makrini, Van Moorsel, Leeuwin, Ritzmaier, Lukoki, Ogbeche (Barto 74), Manu (Manu 91).

SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Boxel, Pereira, Bakker, Van Brakel.

GOALS: Manu 4, Ogbeche 44, Lukoki 69.

BOOKINGS: Lukoki

HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Van Anholt, Dijks, Zomer (Sinkgraven 59), Kum, De Roon, Van den Berg (De Kamps 74), Ziyech, Slagveer (Wildschut 57), Finnbogason, Basacikoglu.

SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, Otigba, Marzo, Fazli.

GOALS: Finnbogason 85.

BOOKINGS: Basacikoglu, Finnbogason.

VITESSE 1-1 NEC NIJMEGEN

Vitesse’s title hopes suffered a bitter blow as they were held at home against relegation candidates NEC in the Gelderse derby.

Vitesse stay second after the draw but it looked promising early on for the Arnhem side after taking the lead on the half hour mark. Star of last week’s win over PEC Zwolle, Christian Atsu whipped in a corner that found defender Dan Mori in the box who headed home past Karl-Johan Johnsson in goal.

The basement boys NEC should have levelled the game up before the interval, after they pressed and had Vitesse on the ropes for the remaining ten minutes of the half.

Vitesse failed to score another and paid the price with just twenty minutes to go. Danish forward Søren Rieks spun in a cross that the Vitesse defence failed to clear and Englishman Michael Higdon notched to tie the game.

The GelreDome crowd went home unhappy and even more so that title rivals Ajax defeated Go Ahead Eagles a few hours later.

TEAMS

VITESSE: Velthuizen, Mori, Van Aanholt, Leerdam, Van der Heijden, Pröpper, Vejinovic, Piazón (Traoré 68), Atsu, Ibarra (Labyad 78), Havenaar.

SUBS NOT USED: Houwen, Achenteh, Van der Struijk, Đurđević, Kazaishvili.

GOALS: Mori 30.

BOOKINGS: None.

NEC: Johnsson, Conboy (Leiwakabessy 77), Van Eijden, Haitz, Vermeijl, Rieks (Foor 65), Koolwijk, Štefánik (Mulder 88), Jantscher, Hemlein, Higdon.

SUBS NOT USED: Smits, Cmovs, Disveld, Castillion.

GOALS: Higdon 71.

BOOKINGS: Van Eijden.

GO AHEAD EAGLES 0-1 AJAX

Ajax struggled to find their finishing in Deventer on Sunday afternoon but a narrow 1-0 win means that they stay top of the pile.

As expected Ajax dominated in the early stages and should have taken the lead after just three minutes, if it were not for a shocking Kolbeinn Sigthórsson miss. Frank de Boer has his head in his hands after Bojan and Davy Klaassen had worked well to head the ball onto the Icelandic striker, but he fired his volley from just a few yards out straight in Eloy Room’s arms.

Ajax’s pressure was relentless but like Sigthórsson, Bojan, Klaassen and Lesley De Sa’s finishing was poor and unable to break the deadlock. Against the run of play, Go Ahead could have gone ahead themselves. Joël Veltman failed to head clear a Jarchinio Antonia cross from the right-wing but the defender got himself in front of Jeffrey Rijsdijk’s attempt to concede a corner.

The first-half petered out and ended goal-less but Ajax fired out of the blocks and were angry that they were not awarded a penalty after 51 minutes. Antonia bundled Klaassen over on the left side of the area, but referee Reinold Wiedemeijer booked the Ajax midfielder for diving, and the majority of the 7,938 attendance were cheering the decision.

De Boer needed a goal and quick and just after the hour mark injected some fresh legs into the attack with the double Dane substitution of Lasse Schöne and Viktor Fischer on for De Sa and the poor Sigthórsson. Within a minute, Fischer nearly opened the scoring but his header from a Klaassen cross forced a save from Room.

The goal finally came on 74 minutes and it was the other substitution that broke the deadlock. After Ajax were awarded a free-kick outside the area courtesy of a Deniz Türüç handball, Lasse Schöne stood up to take it. The Danish midfielder fired his first attempt in the wall but after the rebound returned in his path, his low drive was too powerful for Room to stop and nestle into the corner of the goal.

Ajax held on for the win and due to Vitesse being held by NEC, now sit two points at the top of the Eredivisie league table.

TEAMS

GO AHEAD: Room, Schmidt, Vriends, Van der Linden, Schenk, Overgoor (Amevor 84), Rijsdijk (Lambooij 68), Türüç, Antonia (Kavak 91), Houtkoop, Kolder.

SUBS NOT USED: Cummins, Pot, Oostinjen, Ten Den.

GOALS: None

BOOKINGS: Schmidt, Kolder.

AJAX: Cillessen, Van Rhijn, Veltman, Moisander, Boilesen, Blind, Serero (Poulsen 86), Klaassen, De Sa (Fischer 65), Sigthórsson (Schöne 66), Bojan.

SUBS NOT USED: Vermeer, Duarte, Hoesen, Denswil.

GOALS: Schöne 74.

BOOKINGS: Klaassen.