PSV visited Sparta on Saturday, which was ranked equal in points. After undergoing a tightly directed Oslo confrontation in the center circle to check that all players put on the match sheet by both (professional) clubs were eligible to play, the teams could do what they had come to do: play football for 2nd place.

Sparta left PSV plenty of room to build in the first half, dropping far back in their own half, giving PSV little room to play football. Most of the danger in the first half came from distance shots, especially from Yentl Meyssen, who was eligible to play for the first time since his return to PSV, and who came close to scoring in the 9th and 21st minutes with excellent distance shots. Typical for the game was perhaps that goalkeeper Mike van de Meulenhof only got the first ball on goal after almost 25 minutes of play, which he had to deal with with his hands, and Sparta only really got dangerous once in the first half from a nice free kick in the 30th minute, which went just wide. Although the game seemed to be heading for a scoreless halftime lead, PSV should have been awarded a penalty on the stroke of halftime when Yentl Meyssen tried to put the ball in front of the goal in the penalty area and it bounced off the hand of a Sparta defender, which was not recognized by the referee.

The 2nd half initially presented the same picture. In the 52nd minute, however, striker Joey Konings broke the game open with an excellent individual move. Despite the lack of space, he drove into the Sparta penalty area with the ball at foot at speed, leaving several defenders standing, and then sought the far left corner out of reach of the Sparta goalkeeper with a placed ball. And with that brilliant goal, the match would prove to be decided as well. Although Sparta became more dangerous after that goal and also created a number of chances but failed to take advantage of them or saw them foiled by Mike van de Meulenhof, PSV took the lead in the messy and sometimes hectic final phase.

Once again, the B2 added a fine result to their run of results, opening a gap to Sparta and cementing 2nd place in the league table. Next week PSV will play in The Hague against ADO.


Mike van de Meulenhof; Roel van Linschoten - Kaan Tanriver - Maarten Peijnenburg ('66 Nick de Louw)- Lassana Faye; Jasper de Jonge - Yentl Meyssen - Vincent Bogaerts; Elmo Hertogh ('74 Juul Respen)- Joey Konings © - Karim Bannani.

On the bench not substituted: Tim Latiers; Roel Cornelissen; Vincent Boldt.
Yellow card: Kaan Tanriver