Heerenveen (It Hearrenfean). That's where the O15 headed this weekend. Effe by bus to the place of the Thialf, the Blauhuster Dakkapel and the pompeblêden. To Friesland, the province of its own national anthem, kaatsen and fierljeppen. In other words: a piece of sightseeing Holland this weekend.

Today's goal: qualification for the knockout round of the cup tournament. With 6 points from 2 cup matches and a goal difference of +10 (11-1), PSV O15 was in good shape. Today's opponent, Heerenveen, was tied with Volendam with 3 points. Because it had a slightly better goal difference than "the wide boys" (+1 and -1 respectively), it was in 2nd place prior to the match. And could thus still hope to continue in the cup.

Given the large difference in goal difference, PSV was actually sure of placement. But as a famous rugby coach once said: "the ball is round". And so the team still had to complete the 70 minutes without suffering a possible major defeat. The Eindhoven team has been in a nice flow the last few weeks, so it was important to keep that good feeling and also to warm up the far north with our football game.

In the warm-up, striker Sem van den Broek unfortunately had to drop out. On his own initiative he said he was suffering too much from a calf injury. Great to make such a decision yourself and to let the team's interests prevail. His place in the striker was taken over by Yorbe Vertessen from the O14.

In the 3rd minute, PSV had an immediate opportunity to open the score. A fine cross from Bryan van Hove was released by the tall Heerenveen goalkeeper after which Sekou Sidibe shot the ball over.

Heerenveen put early pressure on the PSV defense in the early stages. Yet it often managed to get out from under them, but in the 7th minute things went wrong. On the poor pitch the ball slipped under the foot of a defender, after which Heerenveen could easily make it 1-0. It wouldn't be true that PSV would suffer a big defeat here, would it? .....

But fortunately PSV recovered well and through some good attacks they regularly showed themselves in front of the Frisian goal. After a fine cross from Vince Colpaerts, PSV got a corner that was almost cashed in by Koen Oostenbrink.

In the 12th minute another corner led to danger. Evert Linthorst's kick ended up at the second post where Sekou returned the ball to Yorbe who hit the bar with his shot.

Three minutes later Yorbe was again close to the equalizer. On the edge of the penalty area he played himself free with a fabulous body move, but unfortunately his shot went straight at the goalkeeper who was able to stop it easily.

After Yorbe missed a chance in the 16th minute after a beautiful pass from Vince, he finally scored in the 20th minute. Benjamin Kailie took a corner on the right. This was also taken by Evert. Via 'the pinball machine' the ball ended up at the feet of Yorbe, who was lucky this time: 1-1.

PSV remained the better team in Heerenveen and deservedly took the lead in the 28th minute. A sharp cross from Sekou was misjudged by the Heerenveen goalie, after which it was a piece of cake for Yorbe to tap the ball in at the far post.

After Kyan van Dorp saved a shot by the Frisians in the 32nd minute, Sekou made it 1-3 at the break in the last minute. A class action by Benjamin preceded this. After coming up on the right side, he waited for the right moment to pass the ball to Sekou, who then slid the ball into the far corner.

By now it was raining heavily in Heerenveen, making the field even harder to play on. Sometimes it looked like Thialf without a roof...

The first opportunity after the resumption was for the home team, but their shot went wide. After this, PSV completely took over the initiative. It showed a few fluent attacks, but was unfortunate in the final phase. A free header by Koen Oostenbrink lacked power to surprise the Heerenveen goalkeeper.

Thus, PSV dictated the game in the second half and it was waiting for the 4th goal. That finally came in the 43rd minute. After Sekou was tackled illegally inside the infamous lines, Sekou allowed Abou Kone to take care of the awarded penalty. Without hesitation, he slid the ball into the corner, deciding the game definitively.

PSV continued to look for more goals after this 4th goal. But Sekou in particular was unfortunate in his actions today and failed to add to the score. Joop Daniels went close once more but was a toe short of sliding a cross in. Yorbe was also close to scoring his third goal after being set free by substitute Joey Verhoeven.

Just before time Heerenveen scored the 2-4 out of nowhere. But that was all. A deserved victory for PSV in which the result did not do justice to the difference in strength (especially in the second half). It is remarkable that the Eindhoven team conceded as many goals today as in the whole league so far.

But what mattered today was realized: qualification for the knockout phase of the cup tournament and playing good football. Next weekend again the regular league where in the home game against NAC Breda it can finally qualify for the, after the winter break, to be established Eredivisie.


Kyan van Dorp; Benjamin Kailie (48' Joey Verhoeven), Abou Kone, Koen Oostenbrink, Bryan van Hove; Evert Linthorst (52' Arne Bens), Davy van den Berg (36' Mathijs Bel), Vincent Colpaert; Sekou Sidibe (c), Yorbe Vertessen, Joop Daniels (60' Gregory Kuisch).