FC Twente defeated Vitesse to narrow the gap down between themselves and Eredivisie leaders Ajax to one point, albeit temporarily as Ajax are set to play Heerenveen on Sunday.

Saturday 15th February 2014

FC TWENTE 2-0 VITESSE

FC Twente virtually eliminated Vitesse Arnhem from the Eredivisie title race with a dominating performance topped by great shows by Luc Castaignos and Dusan Tadić.

Twente dominated the game throughout and Kelvin Leerdam, playing at right-back for Vitesse, did not make it easy for his team after just four minutes when he was shown a yellow for a foul on Quincy Promes. Leerdam was making his first appearance after serving a suspension.

The hosts should have taken the lead many times during the first-half but even more so on 13 minutes. Vitesse goalkeeper Piet Velthuizen passed the ball out of the box to Marko Vejinović, but the midfielder was under extensive pressure and the ball was stolen in a dangerous position by Luc Castaignos. The striker dished the ball out to Dušan Tadić, who returned the ball to Castaignos inside the area but the 21-year-old’s shot was straight at Velthuizen legs.

The attacks from Twente were relentless and Tadić nearly got on the scoresheet a minute later with a great low drive from the edge of the area but the shot was just wide much to Velthuizen’s relief. On 36 minutes, the Serbian was involved again. After some great link-up play between Tadić, Castaignos and Roberto Rosales ending with the Serb blasting a shot from close range but Velthuizen stayed strong and saved his side yet again.

Vitesse struggled to get involved and were restricted to just one shot on target within the game but Vejinović’s rare chance came close in the 37th minute. However, the midfielder’s strike from 35 yards out was inches wide of Nick Marsman’s left post.

Michel Jansen must have been wondering how his side was not in the lead come the half-time whistle especially after missing a glorious chance three minutes before. Jan-Arie van der Heijden was caught in possession by Shadrach Eghan and the Ghanaian spotted a Kyle Ebecilio run in the area. Ebecilio was under pressure from Guram Kashia and the Georgian defender did just enough to direct the former Arsenal youth’ shot into Velthuizen’s arms.

The first goal finally came ten minutes after the interval. Luc Castaignos outpaced Leerdam to latch onto a Dico Koppers through ball and the striker made no mistake this time, calmly finishing past the onrushing keeper.

On the hour mark, the visitors were reduced to ten men as Chelsea loanee Patrick van Aanholt tackled Tadić from behind and was shown a straight red from referee Pieter Vink.

The chemistry between Tadić and Castaignos is growing game by game and with twelve minutes remaining the two combined to double the lead and seal the points for Twente. The two exchanged a wonderful one-two leading to Dusan Tadić wonderfully chipping Velthuizen with great composure. The Serbian is truly to most valuable player in the Eredivisie right now with four goals and four assists in the six games in 2014.

The win means Twente are just a point away from leaders Ajax as Vitesse are now without a win in five games and Peter Bosz must be feeling that the challenge of the club’s first ever Eredivisie title must be out of reach now.

TEAMS

TWENTE: Marsman, Rosales, Martina, Bjelland, Koppers, Gutiérrez, Ebecilio, Eghan (Børven 69), Tadić, Castaignos (Djordjevic 87), Promes.

SUBS NOT USED: Stevens, Hölscher, Röseler, Breukers, Tapia.

GOALS: Castaignos 55, Tadić 78.

BOOKINGS: Eghan.

VITESSE: Velthuizen, Kashia, Van Aanholt, Van der Heijden, Leerdam, Vejinovic, Atsu (Labyad 73), Pröpper, Piazón (Van der Struijk 66), Ibarra (Traoré 73), Havenaar.

SUBS NOT USED: Room, Mori, Djurdjevic, Qazaishvili.

GOALS: None.

BOOKINGS: Leerdam, Vejinovic.

SENT OFF: Van Aanholt.

RKC WAALWIJK 1-3 NEC NIJMEGEN

Anton Janssen’s NEC came back from conceding an early goal to earn a vital 3-1 win at RKC Waalwijk, this was the Nijmegen’s side first league victory on the road this season.

NEC nearly took the lead within the opening few minutes after a great move by Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Kevin Conboy. The Iranian laid the ball into Conboy who chest passed it back to the 20-year-old winger but his sliding effect crashed off the post.

The hosts took the lead on six minutes with Romeo Castelen’s fourth goal of the season. Kenny Anderson and Daniel de Ridder combined until the ball fell perfectly for Castelen to hit a low drive past Swedish keeper Karl-Johan Johnsson.

The visitors were close to equalising minutes later but Conboy’s effort was tipped onto the bar by Jan Šeda. However, Janssen did not have to wait much longer to see the game turned around for his side.

After a long free-kick from deep was nodded down by English striker Michael Higdon on 25 minutes, Navarone Foor was on hand to finish from close range. With six minutes to go before the half-time whistle, the visitors took the lead. Club captain Ryan Koolwijk launched a free-kick from the left which met Lasse Nielsen’s glancing header at the front post to make it 2-1.

After the break, the points were almost cemented on 54 minutes. A corner from Koolwijk was headed by Jahanbakhsh, and the Iranian international flicked his effort towards goal, but it took a deflection off Evander Sno and onto the crossbar.

The win was clinched by Michael Higdon on 71 minutes to give NEC a great away win. Combining down the right, Jahanbakhsh and Søren Rieks crossed in for the Englishman to mishit a volley which ended up in the goal anyways.

RKC drop to 13th just two points off the relegation places with NEC lifted out of the drop zone into 15th.

TEAMS

RKC: Šeda, Lamey, Van Hoevelen, Anderson (Braber 47), Gouano, Amieux (Apau 68), Sno, Jungschläger, Castelen, De Ridder (Beauguel 76), Joachim.

SUBS NOT USED: Van Dijk, Ivens, Van Mosselveld, Schet.

GOALS: Castelen 6.

BOOKINGS: None.

NEC: Johnsson, Vermijl, Van Eijden, Nielsen, Conboy (Leiwakabessy 89), Štefánik (Palsson 59), Koolwijk, Foor, Rieks, Jahanbakhsh (Hemlein 90), Higdon.

SUBS NOT USED: Gentenaar, Haitz, Mulder, Jantscher.

GOALS: Foor 25, Nielsen 39, Higdon 72.

BOOKINGS: None.

 

RODA JC 0-1 ADO DEN HAAG

ADO enjoyed a narrow 1-0 victory with Roda coach Jon Dahl Tomasson facing an uphill struggle to keep his side up as they sit rock bottom of the league.

In what was billed as a vital relegation battle, it was poor game in front of 14,000 supporters inside the Parkstad Limburg Stadion, which proved why both sides are at the bottom of the division. The fans endured a horrible first-half with no clear cut chances for either side.

The only excitement of the first 45 minutes came just before the half-time whistle when ADO were denied a penalty by referee Kevin Blom. Video replays showed that the visitors had a viable argument as Ard van Peppen had handled the ball in the area.

Mitchell Schet scored the only goal on 53 minutes, finishing a rebound from a Yanic Wildschut effort after Filip Kurto had blocked the original chance.

Kurto was called into action again with better consequences for him as he saved a Danny Bakker header minutes later from a great free-kick crossed in by Danny Holla.

With both sides desperate for points the action heated up with ten minutes to go. Substitiute Marc Höcher crossed for Mitchell Donald but his header was by goalkeeper Robert Zwinkels, filling in for Gino Coutinho.

In stoppage time, Roda should have clinched a point but Wiljan Pluim nodded his effort straight at Zwinkels feet.

The whistle was blown for full-time and Roda were roundly jeered off the pitch by their fans. The battle for ADO Den Haag is not over as they still sit third bottom in the relegation playoff places. Both sides are struggling to score goals and need to find some firepower soon otherwise they stand no chance of leaving the drop zone.

TEAMS

RODA: Kurto, Ramos (Shkurti 79), Van Peppen, Luijckx, Letschert, Donald, Sutchuin, Paulissen, Kali, Hupperts, Pluim.

SUBS NOT USED: Prus, Monteyne, Bosing, Jacobs.

GOALS: None.

BOOKINGS: None.

ADO: Zwinkles, Malone, Zuiverloon, Wormgoor, Meijers, Holla (Kanon 90+1), Gehrt (Kramer 90), Bakker, Schet, Van Duinen, Wildschut (Van Haaren 81).

SUBS NOT USED: De Zwart, Merencia, Buwalda, Cabral.

GOALS: Schet 53.

BOOKINGS: None.

 

AZ ALKMAAR 1-1 FC UTRECHT

Dick Advocaat’s AZ Alkmaar missed out on the opportunity to move closer to the top five when they were held 1-1 by Jan Wouters’ FC Utrecht.

It was a quiet opening twenty minutes inside the AFAS Stadion and when the action livened up it was the visitors that nearly took the lead. Australian Tommy Oar whipped in a vicious free-kick that missed everyone and forced a great save from AZ keeper Esteban.

A minute later, the action went up the other end and produced a goal. Down the left Roy Beerens crossed into the front post where American striker Aron Johannsson met the ball with a diving header giving Robbin Ruiter no chance of saving.

Utrecht battled on and got back in the game with Steve de Ridder being the main threat testing Esteban on many occasions but failed to make a breakthrough.

After the break, Utrecht’s Jens Toornstra hit a perfect free-kick on 55 minutes to level the scores. Jeffrey Gouweleeuw fouled the tricky Oar on the edge of the area and Toornstra hit the resulting kick into the top corner with great precision.

The score stayed 1-1 even though Toornstra nearly repeated the act on 82 minutes but his free-kick was just too high for the target.

Utrecht coach Wouters, already under great pressure are now just two points adrift of the relegation spots and will look to get more points hosting FC Groningen next Sunday. AZ face a tough away trip to the Amsterdam Arena next weekend and could have done with the three points in this game to help their Europa League aspirations.

TEAMS

AZ: Esteban, Gouweleeuw, Reijnen, Wuytens, Viergever, Ortiz (Poulsen 79), Gudelj, Gorter (Henriksen 66), Berghuis, Beerens, Jóhannsson.

SUBS NOT USED: De Winter, Johansson, Gudmundsson, Haye, Avdic.

GOALS: Jóhannsson 21.

BOOKINGS: Gudelj 86.

UTRECHT: Ruiter, Delpierre, Markiet, Van der Maarel, Dorda, Sarota, Ayoub (Diemers 51), Toornstra, De Ridder, Agudelo (Koevermans 75), Oar.

SUBS NOT USED: Verhoeven, Quesada, Bjelica, Klaiber.

GOALS: Toornstra 55.

BOOKINGS: None.

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A crazy day in the Dutch top flight that ends a crazy week of games with goals galore. Ajax had the chance to pull away from the chasing pack in the Eredivisie title race but they were held to a 1-1 draw to a PEC Zwolle side who could have stole all three points today. 

Sunday 9th February 2014

HERACLES 1-1 CAMBUUR

Heracles and Cambuur shared the points in the opening game of Sunday, it was a late goal for the home side that shattered Cambuur hopes of clearing themselves out of relegation trouble for now.

It was a slow start to the game in the Polman Stadion with both sides failing to create any chances in the opening twenty minutes of the match but the away side took the lead after 23 minutes gone.

A long ball forward was latched on by Cambuur’s on-loan striker Elvis Manu, and the Feyenoord man held off the challenges of Bart Schenkeveld and with Jeroen Veldmate failing to get across in time, the 20-year-old used great composure to finish to give the visitors the lead.

Heracles had their chances but no more so than the horrendous miss of the on-loan Mikhail Rosheuvel in the 47th minute. A cross came in from the left where the AZ man dived for a header which flicked up and smacked off the crossbar from just four yards out. If he had made the choice to stick a boot on it instead he possibly would have scored.

Rosheuval had a better effort a few minutes later, latching on a long ball, and taking Lucas Bijker out of the challenge with his great first touch but his shot was straight at Leonard Nienhuis who parried the shot away.

It was end to end stuff as a few minutes later, Marcel Ritzmaier, on-loan from PSV, smashed a 20 yard shot off the opposite crossbar.

The points were snatched away from the visitors as Heracles got the goal to grab a point with just a minute of the game remaining, a corner was nodded home by Mike te Wierik.

TEAMS

HERACLES: Pasveer, Veldmate (Powel 85), Davidson, Schenkeveld, Te Wierik, Cziommer, Rienstra, Bel Hassani, Bruns (Tannane 47), Uth, Rosheuvel (Amoah 79).

SUBS NOT USED: Telgenkamp, Koenders, Van Dijk, Belterman.

GOALS: Te Wierik 89.

BOOKINGS: Reinstra, Schenkeveld, Tannane.

CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Bijker (Pereira 64), Droste, Van der Laan (Van Boxel 81), Leeuwin, Ritzmaier, El Makrini, Bakker, Lukoki, Manu, Hemmen (Barto 68).

SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Brakel, Van Moorsel, Schepers.

GOALS: Manu 23.

BOOKINGS: Bijker.

PEC ZWOLLE 1-1 AJAX

The 12,500 present inside the IJsseldelta Stadion will wonder how Ajax got out of the stadium with a point after an action-packed game on Sunday afternoon.

Ron Jans can be proud of his PEC Zwolle side who more than held their own against an Ajax side that were frustrating in front of goal once De Boer’s men took a 1-0 lead after just seven minutes.

Central defender Joel Veltman made a marauding run down the right and after skipping two challenges, Joost Broerse brought the defender down. The in-form Lasse Schöne whipped in a free-kick into the front post where Davy Klaassen nodded in the opening goal.

Siem de Jong really struggled today and must have misplaced his shooting boots as on 21 minutes he produced a terrible miss by his standards. Totally unmarked, the Dutchman volleyed over the bar after Ricardo van Rhijn had supplied the perfect cross for him.

Quarter of an hour later, the score was level. Winter transfer window signing Thanasis Karagounis played a defence splitting through ball onto Guyon Fernandez. The on-loan striker took advantage when Ajax ‘keeper Kenneth Vermeer failed to collect and the Feyenoord man finished in the empty goal.

Diederik Boer saved Zwolle a few times in the match and no more important save then just before the interval when he denied Veldman’s header from the back post after Daley Blind crossed from deep. It was a point blank stop that got the crowd cheering louder than the Fernandez goal.

Ajax really picked up the pace after the break and forced save after save out of Boer. Schune, De Jong and Bojan all deprived of a goal due to the hands of the 6ft 4inch stopper.

Zwolle could see Ajax tiring and on 69 minutes, Jans will wonder how his team did not take the lead. After Fred Benson smashed his shot from outside the area against the foot of the post, the rebound fell perfectly to Jesper Drost, but even with Vermeer out of position the 21-year-old midfielder lashed his shot off the crossbar and out. Frank de Boer gave out a sigh of relief on the touchline.

With 12 minutes to go, Zwolle should have definitely clinched all three points but De Boer can thank Veldman for saving the single point. Karagounis and the onrushing Vermeer ran onto a free ball and the Greek midfielder beat the ‘keeper to the ball. The signing from Atromitos played in Fernandez and as the striker was pulling back to fire the trigger, Veldman dived in and nicked the ball away at the right time.

On the final whistle, Jans was all smiles and De Boer was miserable but he should be smiling, as Ajax are now five points clear at the top of the league and he should feel relieved that he got out of the IJsseldelta with something. However, second placed FC Twente have a game on hand against a poor Groningen side on Wednesday night.

TEAMS

ZWOLLE: Boer, Gravenbeek, Van Polen, Broerse, Van Hintum, Klich, Drost, Karagounis (Nijland 91), Saymak, Mahmudov (Thomas 75), Fernandez (Benson 64).

SUBS NOT USED: Begois, Epe, Patricio, Pereira.

GOALS: Fernandez 36.

BOOKINGS: None.

AJAX: Vermeer, Van Rhijn, Veltman, Moisander, Riedewald (Sigthórsson 75), Klaassen, Blind, Serero (Duarte 72), Schöne, De Jong, Bojan (Fischer 60).

SUBS NOT USED: Van der Hart, Ligeon, Denswil, Poulsen.

GOALS: Klaassen 7.

BOOKINGS: None.

RKC WAALWIJK 5-2 FC UTRECHT

In a game that had virtually everything RKC put Jan Wouters in major trouble as they beat his Utrecht side by five goals to two.

The Utrecht manager is now under major pressure after seeing his side slip down to 14th in the league and just three points off the relegation places.

The goal fest began after an error from Yassin Ayoub played in Romeo Castelen. Ayoub flicked a header backwards thinking he was playing it to safety, but Castelen lashed a first-time half-volley that dipped under Robbin Ruiter’s crossbar after just eight minutes of play.

The game was tied four minutes later as Jens Toornstra converted a penalty after on-loan defender Prince-Désir Gouano was punished for a handball in the area.

The scoring stopped until 11 minutes from time, where the game got incredibly wild with five goals in just fourteen fun-filled minutes. Daniel de Ridder gave the hosts the lead with a 25 yard strike after the Utrecht defence failed to close him down.

Utrecht collapsed and a minute later, Kenny Anderson added a third to the tally. Straight from the kick-off Utrecht’s Steve de Ridder made it 3-2 with a wonderful solo effort.

On 86 minutes, Utrecht had a glorious chance to level the game to 3-3 after Jonas Ivens was deemed to handballed Steve de Ridder shot on goal, however, Toornstra smashed his spot-kick off the post. It got for Toornstra with just a minute of normal remaining, French striker Jean-David Beauguel latched on a Toornstra backpass and made it 4-2.

Luxembourg international Aurélien Joachim made it five in third minute of stoppage time and Beauguel and Daniel de Ridder combined to play the striker in. The Luxembourgian rounded Ruiter and  slotted home.

Utrecht need to get points and quick and in all honesty, Jan Wouters might be lucky to still be on the bench next weekend when they visit AZ Alkmaar.

TEAMS

RKC: Šeda, Anderson, Apau, Van Hoevelen, Amieux, Gouano (Ivens 41), Castelen (Beauguel 85), Duits, Sno, Joachim, Schet (D. De Ridder 46).

SUBS NOT USED: Van Dijk, Jungschläger, Braber, Van Weert.

GOALS: Castelen 8, D. De Ridder 79, Anderson 81, Joachim 90, Beauguel 90.

BOOKINGS: Duits.

UTRECHT: Ruiter, Van der Maarel, Delpierre, Markiet, Dorda, Ayoub, Toornstra, Quesada (Koevermans 84), S. De Ridder, Agudelo, Oar.

SUBS NOT USED: Verhoeven, Diemers, Badjeck, Van Der Winden, Klaiber, Van Velzen.

GOALS: Toornstra 10P, S. De Ridder 82.

BOOKINGS: None.

FC GRONINGEN 1-3 HEERENVEEN

In the ‘Derby van het Noorden’, a zany six minutes of madness cost Erwin van de Looi’s Groningen the game in the final game of Week 23.

Early on Kenny Otigba and Maikel Kieftenbeld had fouls unpunished; however, they both saw the red card before the full-time whistle.

The home side looked good going forward and should have took the lead on 26 minutes when Eric Botteghin emerged forward and drove a powerful low shot towards the Heerenveen goal. Unfortunately for the Brazilian defender, Swedish keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt pulled off a great save to tip wide.

As always Heerenveen are the most dangerous on the counter attack and today proved no different. On 33 minutes, straight from a Marco Bizot goal-kick, Marten de Roon headed back up the field into the feet of Alfred Finnbogason. The Icelander fired a ball forward for Rajiv van la Parra to run onto, the young winger then lashed the ball past the stunned Bizot for the opener.

Groningen fell to pieces and three minutes later, they found themselves two goals down. Again on the counter, Van la Parra and Hakim Ziyech combining with one-twos until Ziyech finished.

Things were getting messy for Van de Looi’s men and it was 3-0 and they were down to ten men on 39 minutes. Alfred Finnbogason skipped past Bizot and was ready to turn and finish into the goal until Kieftenbeld saved with his hands on the goal-line, the striker converted the resulting spot-kick.

Referee Bas Nijhuis had to dish out the red again with just under twenty minutes of time remaning which level the teams up. As Groningen’s Michael de Leeuw was running through on goal, Kenny Otigba was last defender and the Hungarian seemed to clip the midfielder’s heels.

Groningen grabbed a 86th minute consolation goal after Genaro Zeefuik was felled by Stefano Marzo in the area and Michael de Leeuw put away the penalty kick. Marco van Basten was angry with two minutes remaning after his side had a penalty claim waved away but in all fairness the game was for him after 39 minutes. Heerenveen leapfrog back into fifth at PSV’s expense.

TEAMS

GRONINGEN: Bizot, Burnet (Hateboer 46), Botteghin, Kappelhof, Wijnaldum, Chery, Kieftenbeld, Van Nieff (Zeefuik 79), Kirm, De Leeuw, Kostic (Lindgren 46).

SUBS NOT USED: Van der Lei, Adorjan, Hiarlej, Zivkovic.

GOALS: De Leeuw 86P.

BOOKINGS: Kieftenbeld, Hateboer.

SENT OFF: Kieftenbeld.

HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Marzo, Otigba, Kum, Van Anholt, De Roon, Ziyech, Van den Berg (Sinkgraven 65), Van La Parra (Slagveer 87), Finnbogason, Basacikoglu (Lurling 68).

SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, De Kamps, Warmotts, Van Aken.

GOALS: Van la Parra 33, Ziyech 36, Finnbogason 40P.

BOOKINGS: Marzo, Lurling.

SENT OFF: Otigba.

STANDINGS

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