Location: Sportpark Woudestein
Meanwhile, the 9th league game for the team of trainers Edwin de Wijs and Joonas Kolkka was on the program. Both were absent, so today Twan Scheeepers did the honors. The match was away at Excelsior. An away game. And the C1 had not won one yet this competition. Apparently the 3 points didn't fit in the big OAD bus anymore....but maybe today..... Then we would have to catch the right OAD bus. Because we were already inside Ajax C2's OAD bus..... Our bus was not there yet and was entering the grounds just at that moment on the other side of De Herdgang. The small delay would serve us well later, because it meant that we did not end up in a traffic jam near Breda and we were able to avoid the completely stalled St Annabosch junction just in time via the A27.
On Excelsior's artificial turf pitch, PSV immediately had to deal with a major setback. In the very first minute, left back Ties van den Eijnde severely injured his ankle. He had to go to the hospital for further examination. A bruised and sprained ankle was the result. This disappointment was soon washed away when PSV received a penalty kick not much later, which was taken by Dante Rigo. What a first minutes say! And the cake wasn't over yet. Due to mediocre defending, the equalizer was soon back in the basket. PSV remained the better side on Rotterdam soil. But did not manage to play the opportunities well. Excelsior gambled on their "coat rack striker" on whom their attacking play was completely hung. A quarter of an hour before halftime, PSV took the lead again when Matthias Verreth cleverly took a free kick quickly to the running Dante who crossed from the back line to the central defender Kaan Tanriver who cleverly headed in the 1-2. Less than 2 minutes later, however, it was already 2-2 again. The Excelsior striker was allowed to continue after having made hands. In the penalty area he met Kaan who slipped and tried to tap the ball away. The Rotterdam striker ran into his outstretched leg and fell. Penalty and yellow for Kaan. Heavily penalized by the referee for the latter. Goalkeeper Aaron van Engelen was hopeless with the penalty. After Jaëll Hattu was very close to a new lead for PSV, Dante did move the net. A beautifully taken indirect free kick landed via the keeper's fingertips in the short corner. The referee, however, disallowed the goal. No one had touched the ball in his eyes. While if he had used his ears, he could clearly hear that the goalkeeper had still touched it. Let's just say that he either didn't have his day or had a rough day/night.
At halftime, coach Twan had made some points and the second half started in good spirits. PSV took control immediately and was dangerous via a Joey Konings header. His attempt did not hit the target, but Dante did a few minutes later. And how: again from a free kick (this time directly) he shot the ball from 20 meters into the left corner and took revenge for his unjustly disallowed goal in the first half. PSV continued to play well, sharp and looked for depth faster and more often on the flanks where Karim Bannani in particular played his direct opponent "the snot before his eyes". Lennerd Daneels also showed his skills more in the 2nd half and through fine passes on the left and right he was often at the basis of a PSV attack. Once in a while he was threatening himself like in the 45th minute when he soloed down the back line and passed the ball to Joey who again unfortunately was unfortunate with his header. PSV completely dominated the second half. The back line gave the Excelsior forwards no space and no chance was given away. Up front, PSV played playfully and at times eye-catching. Unfortunately the goal was not set every time. A number of times a PSV player could freely shoot a ball at goal from the penalty spot. And every time it went over or wide. In the 55th minute Joey finally scored his goal. From the right he went in and with his strong left he let loose a hard shot that went straight through the middle. Suddenly, however, the ball was behind the goal against the fence. While the PSV players were already celebrating the goal, and the Excelsior players were already lining up for the kickoff, the referee once again doubted his eyes. Surely the ball was behind the goal? Then it couldn't be a goal. The PSV players showed him the hole in the goal net, but the referee deployed his helpline and consulted the Rotterdam linesman. Apparently, the latter had only observed that the ball was behind the goal. Consequence: goal disallowed and back ball. Makes you wonder why referees are sponsored by a large optician chain.... I guess this referee didn't clean his glasses today. Or should he have small windshield wipers mounted on his glasses next time so they are wiped clean when he hits them. Anyway: the goal was not awarded and PSV had to move on to express the power difference in goals. Fortunately for the game, Matthias locked the game a few minutes in when, after a long kick from Lennerd, he shook off his direct opponent and scored the 2-4. The relief was great among the team and the goal was celebrated as if we had become champions.
The remainder of the game was played out in a calm manner with Excelsior not being able to create any more danger and PSV boarding the bus with a good feeling and three points. It was a pity that the great referee put a 'heavy' stamp on the match and was unhappy with his decisions at some "decisive" moments.
A word of thanks to trainer Twan and substitute assistant referee Ton Ketelaars. Here goes! And of course we wish Ties a good and speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the field soon!


Aaron van Engelen; Roel van Linschoten, Tom Scheepers, Kaan Tanriver, Ties van de Eijnde (1' Ymanuel Hurkmans); Dante Rigo; Lennerd Daneels; Jaëll Hattu; Joey Konings (57' Ertem Bölükbas), Matthias Verreth and Karim Bannani.