The resurgent PSV won their sixth game in a row, AZ continued their winning ways with a 4-0 thumping of Heracles, Roda ended their losing streak to lift themselves off the bottom and Vitesse Arnhem leapfrogged into second place in Saturday’s Eredivisie action.
Saturday 8th March 2014
AZ ALKMAAR 4-0 HERACLES
For the second home game in succession AZ handed out a 4-0 beating, this time, Heracles were on the wrong end of the lashing in Alkmaar.
AZ dominated throughout and the scoring began on 17 minutes after some excellent work on the right-wing by Steven Berghuis holding the ball up until Swedish full-back Mattias Johansson arrived. The Swede collected the ball in the area and put the ball on a plate for American striker Aron Jóhannsson to fire the ball in the roof of the goal.
Heracles were a goal down and Milano Koenders was blamed for placing his team under further pressure on 24 minutes. The defender was shown a straight red card by referee Jeroen Sanders for bringing down Jóhannsson when through on goal, replays shown that Sanders had got it wrong and no contact was made.
AZ pressed on and Aron Jóhannsson grabbed another goal in the 37th minute, as again Berghuis and Johansson combined on the right wing to set-up the American in the area to hold off two defenders to finish.
The AZ attacks were relentless and it was three on 79 minutes with Swedish right-back Mattias Johansson netting his own goal after providing two assists earlier with fellow compatriot Viktor Elm adding a fourth in stoppage time.
AZ stay in seventh place in the league 7th this week while Heracles are 12th only four points ahead of the drop zone.
TEAMS
AZ: Esteban, Johansson (Reijnen 83), Gouweleeuw, Viergever, Poulsen, Gudelj (Henriksen 83), Ortiz, Elm, Berghuis, Jóhannsson, Beerens (Lewis 70).
SUBS NOT USED: De Winter, Hoedt, Gorter.
GOALS: Johannson 16 & 37, Johansson 79, Elm 90.
BOOKINGS: None.
HERACLES: Pasveer, Te Wierik, Koenders, Veldmate (Quansah 21), Davidson, Cziommer (Bruns 63), Rienstra, Bel Hassani (Belterman 29), Rosheuvel, Uth, Linssen.
SUBS NOT USED: Telgenkamp, Dijk, Amoah, Tannane.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Bruns 78.
SENT OFF: Koenders 24.
RODA JC 3-1 NEC NIJMEGEN
At the bottom of the table, Roda JC and NEC Nijmegen switched places as Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side gained ended a six game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over their fellow strugglers.
Returning to the side after an injury, Guus Hupperts scored the first of his two goals after half an hour and he will not get an easier goal. NEC goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson tried to clear the ball with a big kick upfield but was charged down by Berry Powel. Powel held the ball up until Hupperts arrived to tap home. It was maybe just the bit of luck Roda had needed after not scoring a goal for four matches.
Marc Hocher made it two on 53 minutes with a looping free-kick, chipping the ball over the Johnsson. It was not the Swedish goalkeeper’s day. Guus Hupperts notched his second three minutes later after Powel had played the winger through on goal.
English striker Michael Higdon reduced the arrears on the hour mark with his 11th goal of the season for the visitors, but it was to no avail and the score finished 3-1.
TEAMS
RODA: Kurto, Letschert, Luijckx, Ramos, Van Peppen, Sutchuin, Kali, Hupperts (Fledderus 90+4), Donald (De Beule 88), Höcher, Powel (Demouge 82).
SUBS NOT USED: Monteyne, Paulissen, Prus, Pluim.
GOALS: Hupperts 30 & 56, Höcher 53.
BOOKINGS: Kali 28, De Beule 90+1.
NEC: Johnsson, Vermijl, Nielsen, Haitz, Conboy, Štefánik (Palsson 54), Rieks, Koolwijk, Jahanbakhsh (Hemlein 54), Higdon, Foor.
SUBS NOT USED: Gentenaar, Disveld, Mulder, Jantscher, Leiwakabessy.
GOALS: Higdon 60.
BOOKINGS: None.
SENT OFF: Palsson 90+1.
HEERENVEEN 3-0 PEC ZWOLLE
Marco van Basten lead his Heerenveen side to a great 3-0 home win against Ron Jans’ Zwolle at the Abe Lenstra Stadion to stay in sixth place.
After an even first half, where both sides had their chances to take the lead, the opening goal finally came on 37 minutes as Bilal Basacikoglu shrugged off two defenders to slot past Zwolle ‘keeper Kevin Begois after Alfred Finnbogasson had played the midfielder into the box.
In the 68th minute, Rajiv van La Parra made it 2-0 with an excellent goal. After receiving the ball from Joey van den Berg on the left side of the area, the winger took one touch to set himself up to curl home into the top corner giving Begois no chance of stopping.
All three points were cemented for Heerenveen ten minutes later with Alfred Finnbogason once again scoring. It was 23rd goal in 24 games in the Eredivisie this season, finishing Van la Parra defence splitting ball to slide the ball home.
Heerenveen sit in sixth with Zwolle comfortable in eighth, and both will be gunning for European football next term.
TEAMS
HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Dijks (Marzo 33), Kum, Van Anholt, Kruiswijk, De Roon, Van den Berg, Ziyech (Sinkgraven 80), Van la Parra, Finnbogason, Basacikoglu.
SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, Otigba, De Kamps, Slagveer, Fazli.
GOALS: Basacikoglu 37, Van la Parra 68, Finnbogason 77.
BOOKINGS: Van Anholt 64.
ZWOLLE: Begois, Van Polen, Van der Werff, Van Hintum, Broerse, Saymak (Nijland 74), Karagounis (Narsingh 66), Drost, Thomas (Fennich 84), Benson, Hiwat.
SUBS NOT USED: Ter Wielen, Mahmudov, Pereira.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Karagounis 41, Van Polen 47.
NAC BREDA 1-2 VITESSE
Mike Havenaar secured a 2-1 win for Vitesse away to NAC Breda to put his side into second place on Saturday night.
Three first-half goals decided the game and it was January signing Zakaria Labyad, on-loan from Sporting Lisbon, who notched his first goal for Vitesse within the first eight minutes. The midfielder capitalised on some slack defending by Mats Seuntjens and finished the ball past Jelle ten Rouwelaar with perfection.
The visiting fans were not celebrating for long. NAC were soon back on terms after Bjorn Kuipers pointed to the spot when he adjudged Jan-Arie van der Heijden to foul Rydell Poepon in the area. Ten minutes gone and it was 1-1 after Jordy Buijs converted the penalty kick.
However, Peter Bosz men walked away with all three points and their third win on the trot thanks to a Mike Havenaar goal on 26 minutes. The Japanese striker volleyed home a Christian Atsu cross at the front post.
Vitesse temporarily moved up into second place with FC Twente to play in Sunday’s game. Breda stay in tenth spot six points above the drop zone.
TEAMS
NAC: Ten Rouwelaar, De Roover, Drost, Buijs, Bodor, Kwakman, Matic, Seuntjens, Hooi, Poepon (Perica 24), Verbeek (Sarpong 35).
SUBS NOT USED: Babos, Suk, El Allouchi, Swerts, Van der Weg.
GOALS: Buijs 10P.
BOOKINGS: Ten Rouwelaar 26.
VITESSE: Velthuizen, Van der Struijk, Kashia, Van der Heijden, Achenteh, Vejinovic, Pröpper, Labyad (Qazaishvili 81), Atsu (Piazón 61), Havenaar, Ibarra.
SUBS NOT USED: Room, Mori, Djurdjevic, Traoré, Van Aanholt.
GOALS: Labyad 8, Havenaar 26.
BOOKINGS: None.
PSV 1-0 FC UTRECHT
Philip Cocu witnessed his side win their sixth game in a row to jump into fourth spot still in hope of clinching Champions League football next season.
Dominating the possession the entire game, poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from Robbin Ruiter stopped PSV running away with the game. The scoreline was not reflective of the hosts’ control as a clutch of first-half chances went begging.
However, the decisive goal arrived on 50 minutes as Jürgen Locadia notched his ninth goal of the campaign with a scrappy goal. After Locadia fluffed his first chance with the ball, Matthieu Delpierre and Kai Heerings failed to clear and the young striker got another bite of the cherry to score.
PSV still have their eyes on the Champions League place and clinching all 18 points out of a possible 18 in their last six games they have gave themselves a great chance.
TEAMS
PSV: Zoet, Arias, Bruma, Rekik, Willems, Hiljemark, Park (Maher 82), Schaars, Narsingh (Ruiz 77), Locadia (Matavz 88), Depay.
SUBS NOT USED: Tyton, Brenet, Zanka Jørgensen, Van Ooijen.
GOALS: Locadia 51.
BOOKINGS: Schaars 40.
UTRECHT: Ruiter, Markiet, Heerings (Bjelica 77), Delpierre, Dorda, Sarota (Agudelo 61), Mårtensson, Toornstra, Ayoub (Van der Gun 62), Oar, De Ridder.
SUBS NOT USED: Verhoeven, Diemers, Quesada, Klaiber.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: De Ridder 21, Toornstra 41, Heerings 54, Delpierre 85, Van der Gun 87.
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