Philip Cocu the 41-year-old PSV coach was pleased with his side’s 2-1 win over Alex Pastoor’s NEC Nijmegen side. But he admitted his side faced a tough evening after letting in an early goal.
PSV were stunned when in the seventh minute the Nijmegen outfit went ahead through Navarone Foor. Lasse Schone’s free-kick was poorly cleared by PSV’s goalkeeper and Foor was there to head in the rebound. The Eindhoven giants then faced difficulties throughout much of the first half.
After this early goal from NEC, they were soon pushed back into their own half and kept a tight line.
To get back on level terms PSV provided immense pressure but all their huff and puff brought little return. It took them until the 68th minute when a Dries Mertens’ pass was control impressively by Jetro Willems before he hit the bottom left hand corner of the net.
It then took until the 88th minute for PSV to find a winner. It was that man Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink strike that sealed a 2-1 win.
The PSV manager praised his side and said that the patient play paid off and got them the three points they needed.
The Eindhoven giants remained unmoved in fifth place in the Dutch League table and seven points behind league leaders Ajax (though only a single point behind second place AZ Alkamar).
However Frank De Boer’s Ajax side came one step closer to winning the Eredivisie League as a 2-0 win over FC Groningen put them six points clear.
The Ajax giants were in control of this match from the whistle and within the first five minutes Christian Eriksen had fired a shot wide.
Despite seeing most of the possession Ajax didn’t make many clear cut chances until the 42nd minute.
Eriksen’s shot was blocked by the Groningen goalkeeper Luciano, but the rebound fell into the path of the Danish prodigy, but his second shot was cleared of the line by Lorenzo Burnet.
Minutes before the half-time whistle Ajax’s persistence paid off and the deadlock was broken through Derk Boerringter. Siem De Jong tried a shot from range which deflected of a defender into the path of Boerringter who did well to finish from six yards out.
The defending Dutch champions continued in much the same manner after the break, when Eriksen nearly doubling their lead, but this time his shot went just inches wide. Moments later De Jong took a shot straight at Luciano before the keeper kept out Theo Janssen’s low free kick.
The home side continued to play aggressively and finally got the second goal that their performance merited. De Jong made a nice run into the penalty box, fed through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and the Icelandic ace finished with ease to give Ajax a 2-0 win.
This win made sure the Amsterdam side kept their six point lead at the top of the table. Indeed, Ajax only need four more points to claim another Dutch title.
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