Philip Cocu can breathe a sigh of relief as PSV bounced back and grabbed three points tonight, only a few days after suffering an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to RKC Waalwijk. In the final game of the evening, Twente’s Dušan Tadić helped his team leapfrog Vitesse into second place in the league, as they defeated Heerenveen 2-0 to go just a point of leaders Ajax.
Wednesday 5th February 2014
SC CAMBUUR 1-2 PSV
PSV have had a tough start to the week, hammered by the press for Sunday’s loss and tonight did not start any better.
After just two minutes of play, Cambuur striker Elvis Manu, on-loan from Feyenoord, put his side in the lead. From a corner, the PSV failed to clear and Manu poked home, sending the 9,600 capacity into raptures.
PSV gained some motivation and searched for the equaliser, but as the last few games have shown, the young Eindhoven side looked unsure in front of goal and lacked to find that final ball to create any clear cut chances.
It was a set-piece that got Cocu’s men back in the game before half-time and it was a howler by Cambuur goalkeeper Leonard Nienhuis. As a Stijn Schaars free-kick was lofted in, Nienhuis came to claim the ball but completely missed as Jeffrey Bruma got in front of the goalie to the ball to head into the open goal.
Just after the hour mark, PSV grabbed the lead as Manu went from hero to villain. The striker in unfamiliar territory was dispossessed by Luciano Narsingh up the field and the winger floated a cross to the back post where Jürgen Locadia was waiting to flick past Nienhuis.
The Eindhoven side held on to win the game and afterwards, PSV managing director Marcel Brands stated that Rubin Kazan has a made a big money offer for Tim Matavz, we will find out over the next few days whether or not the Slovenian will sign for the Russian club. The fee is rumoured to be around €7m – an amount that PSV cannot refuse for a player that has been out of favour with Phillip Cocu.
TEAMS
CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Van Boxel (Feldballe 82), Droste, Pereira, Leeuwin, El Makrini, Ritzmaier, Bakker, Manu, Lukoki (Schepers 68), Ogbeche (Hemmen 20).
SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Brakel, Van Moorsel, Dijkstra.
GOALS: Manu 2.
BOOKINGS: Manu.
PSV: Zoet, Willems, Rekik, Bruma, Brenet, Schaars, Hiljemark, Park (Zanka Jørgensen 90), Depay, Locadia (Matavz 88), Narsingh (Hendrix 81).
SUBS NOT USED: Tyton, Maher, Bakkali, Arias.
GOALS: Bruma 38, Locadia 61.
BOOKINGS: Rekik.
NEC NIJMEGEN 1-1 NAC BREDA
NEC are now undefeated in five consecutive home games but failed to take all three points against NAC Breda, that would have taken the Nijmegen side out of the relegation places.
It was an even game but the away side drew first blood with Rydell Poepon pouncing on a Tobias Haitz mistake to give NAC the lead. The German defender, tried to take the ball out of his domain but got caught out by Jeffrey Sarpong and the ball fell to the powerful Poepon to blast a wonderful drive past Karl-Johan Johnsson.
The away fans did not celebrate for long, as five minutes later the score was tied. After NEC won a free-kick midway through the half, the ball was fired into the back post towards English striker Michael Higdon. Higdon rose and nodded the ball into the path of Rens van Eijden who fired home.
The home side gained some confidence from the goal and chances by Higdon and Jeffrey Leiwakabessy should have gave Anton Janssen’s men the lead but both could not get the efforts on target.
It was a nightmare game for Haitz who was later (77) dismissed by referee Ed Janssen for two bookable fouls.
TEAMS
NEC: Johnsson, Vermijl, Van Eijden, Haitz, Leiwakabessy, Štefánik (Nielsen 80), Foor, Rieks, Hemlein, Higdon (Castillion 73), Jantscher (Jahanbakhsh 63).
SUBS NOT USED: Smits, Gravenberch, Mulder, Diarra.
GOALS: Van Eijden 23.
BOOKINGS: Haitz, Leiwakabessy.
SENT OFF: Haitz.
NAC: Ten Rouwelaar, De Roover, Drost, Buijs, Van der Weg, Gilissen, Matic, Seuntjens (Suk 70), Hadouir (Verbeek 88), Poepon, Sarpong.
SUBS NOT USED: Babos, Tighadouini, Perica, Swerts, Bodor.
GOALS: Poepon 17.
BOOKINGS: Hadiour, Gilissen.
GO AHEAD EAGLES 2-2 RKC WAALWIJK
Xandro Schenk thought he had clinched all three points for Go Ahead tonight with a goal in the final minute, only for RKC’s Romeo Castelen to equalise a minute later to snatch a point.
After Prince-Desai Gouano fouled Joey Godee around 20 yards out, Jop van der Linden curled the resulting free-kick past Jan Šeda on 24 minutes to shoot the hosts in the lead.
RKC could not find an equaliser until the 64th minute after some great work down the left from Damiano Schet, the winger cut inside and fire the ball across goal but unfortunately for the hosts, Xandro Schenk stuck a book out to draw things up.
In the ninetieth minute, the action really started to heat up. From a Denis Turuc corner, RKC failed to clear as Šeda could not hold Bart Vriends header and the rebound fell to Xandro Schenk to get a goal at the right end.
As the home fans blew the roof of the stadium, RKC did not give up and from the kick-off they equalised. Jonas Ivens flicked on a long ball and Romeo Castelen held the ball up in the box, held off Schenk’s challenge and lashed a turning shot into the goal giving debtutant goalkeeper Stephan Andersen no chance of saving.
Go Ahead now sit in 13th with RKC a place below, both hovering over the relegation places, a draw was no good to either side.
TEAMS
GO AHEAD: Andersen, Schmidt, Vriends, Van der Linden, Schenk, Overgoor (Lambooij 82), Türüç, Falkenburg, Antonia (Azevedo 73), Kolder, Godee.
SUBS NOT USED: Ter Mate, Amevor, Rijsdijk, Haps, Kavak.
GOALS: Van den Linden 24, Schenk 90.
BOOKINGS: None.
RKC: Šeda, Lamey, Van Hoevelen (Ivens 69), Gouano, Amieux, Sno, Duits, Anderson, Castelen, Joachim, Schet (Beauguel 83).
SUBS NOT USED: Van Dijk, Jungschlager, Tavares, De Ridder, Apau.
GOALS: Schet 64, Castelen 90.
BOOKINGS: Duits.
HEERENVEEN 0-2 FC TWENTE
FC Twente jumped into second place tonight and did something no other team has done at the Abe Lenstra Stadion this season – stopped Heerenveen from scoring.
In a game that had expectations of many goals, it featured only two with a great defensive display from Michel Jansen’s side keeping Alfred Finnbogason out of the goals tonight.
It was a quiet uneventful first half with most efforts being kept outside of the post. Hakim Ziyech was his usual troublesome self for the Twente defenders but young goalkeeper Nick Marsman kept the goals from creeping in.
After the interval, neither team emerged with intent of attacking and both looked cautious of the others forwards. The first talking point came on 68 minutes when Twente’s Danish defender Andreas Bjelland grabbed Finnbogason on the shoulder to bring him down when he looked like he was through on goal. Referee Richard Liesveld did not deem as Bjelland being the last man since Rasmus Bengtsson was continuing just behind. Heerenveen head coach Marco van Basten was not happy with the decision and protested the case.
In the last twenty minutes, Serbian playmaker Dušan Tadić came alive. On 73 minutes, The Serb arrived in the box from the right-wing and skipped past one defender. Cutting inside he fired a shot at goal but the effort was deflected off Joey van den Berg, and the ricochet looped over Kristoffer Nordfledt arms and into the goal.
In the final moments, Heerenveen concede the second that confirmed Twente was leaving with maximum points. Tadić again involved, finding substitute striker, the 22-year-old Torgeir Børven, a winter signing from Vålerenga, to slide the ball home at the back post. This was the Norwegian’s first goal for the club in only two substitute appearances.
Twente have put real pressure on league leaders Ajax and look the main threat to stopping Frank de Boer clinching his fourth consecutive Eredivisie championship.
TEAMS
HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Marzo (Sinkgraven 85), Otigba, Kum, Dijks (De Kamps 64), De Roon, Ziyech, Van den Berg, Basacikoglu, Finnbogason, Lurling (Van la Parra 68).
SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, Slagveer, Warmolts, Van Aken.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: None.
TWENTE: Marsman, Rosales, Bengtsson, Bjelland, Koppers, Gutiérrez, Ebecilio, Eghan, Tadić, Castaignos, Promes.
SUBS NOT USED: Stevens, Schilder, Mokhtar, Djurdjevic, Martina, Tapia, Børven.
GOALS: Tadić 73, Børven 90.
BOOKINGS: Rosales, Bjelland, Castaignos.
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