PSV fails to grab Ajax by the throat

O16 played the topper against Ajax on Saturday at the Toekomst. In a match that remained unworthy of the poster, both teams played below par. While Ajax could cite a plausible reason for this, after the referee sent a defender off the field with a red card in the 21st minute due to a handball in the penalty area, leaving the team playing with one man less for three quarters of the match, PSV failed to take advantage of the man more situation.

PSV started the match promisingly. Already in the first minute the team got a free kick 20 meters to the left of the goal. Jeremy curled it with a nice kick but just wide to the left. After Ajax became dangerous in front of Jurre's goal a couple of times - he made an excellent save when the right striker of Ajax came in front of him from a very fast switch and shot into the short corner - Jeremy got an opportunity in the 23rd minute that he could not miss. Milan entered the penalty area on the right and fired hard at the Amsterdam goal. His effort was worked out of the goal with his hands by the No. 4 Ajax player, which the referee punished with a red card and a penalty for PSV. Jeremy took responsibility, but shot the penalty weakly and failed to give PSV the lead. Only a short time later, Ajax managed to do so from nowhere. From 20 meters the right striker took a devastatingly hard shot and surprised Jurre, who was left rooted to the spot, making it 1-0 at halftime instead of 0-1.

Although both teams had some good chances in the second half, both PSV and Ajax failed to score again. PSV was in no way able to take any advantage of the man more situation and grab Ajax by the throat, which in turn allowed Ajax to hold on fairly easily despite the numerical minority, eventually winning the 1-0. Due to the messy match schedule, PSV still has a number of league matches to play. Next week the double against FC Utrecht is on the schedule. Tuesday, PSV plays the away game in Utrecht at 18:30, Saturday the same team visits the Herdgang at 14:30.

Setup: Jurre Schaafsma; Thomas Cox ('59 Alberto Puts) - Nigel Lonwijk - Dennis Vos ('68 Joep Kluskens) - Heritier Deyonge; Mathijs Tielemans ('41 Joost de Schutter) - Manu Matuta (c) - Kees van Lindert; Milan Beumer ('22 Jason Pigmans) - Fofana Fode - Jeremy Antonisse.