PSV played its first match of the new season for real in the cup competition against AZ on Saturday. In an entertaining match, the young team of trainers Kristof Aelbrecht and Jurgen Dirkx managed to hold their own against the physically strong Alkmaar players, and eventually took the deserved win.

The opening phase was for AZ who had 2 good chances to open the score. In the 8th minute a good cross was headed just over at the far post, and a few minutes later Youri Roulaux made a fine save when another corner was headed in at the far post. Yet it was PSV that took the lead after about half an hour of play. From a corner by Leandro Ferandes the ball landed at the edge of the penalty area at the feet of striker Joel Piroe, who without hesitation lashed in with a left and shot the 0-1. On the stroke of half-time the striker also had the 0-2 on his shoe when Gaetan Bosiers sent him into the deep with a fine pass and saw the Alkmaar goalkeeper standing well in front of his goal. His arch disappeared just over the crossbar.

The second half also started for AZ, although they were helped by the PSV defense that made a mistake when an AZ player came through at speed on the left side and did not intervene firmly, allowing the player to easily choose the far corner from the edge of the penalty area, 1-1. PSV recovered well, however, and managed to take another lead within five minutes. Karim Bannani entered the box with the ball at foot and cleverly sought contact with a defender, who then brought him down and saw his action punished with a penalty. The penalty was controlled by Leandro Fernandes, 1-2. With 25 entertaining minutes left on the clock, PSV in particular had a number of good chances, but it took until well into injury time for a goal to be scored. PSV changed gear at lightning speed after a deflected AZ attack, resulting in 3 players facing the only AZ defender left behind. However, Leandro Fernandes had also seen that the AZ goalkeeper had been left well outside his penalty area, and chose to shoot at the empty goal from the center line. He was proved right, with a fantastic goal he set the final score at a beautiful and deserved 1-3.

'32 0-1 Joel Piroe
'47 1-1
'53 1-2 Leandro Fernandes (pen)
'83 1-3 Leandro Fernandes


Youri Roulaux; Baggio Wallenburg © - Koen Oostenbrink - Steven Theunissen - Lars Dickens; Justin Lonwijk - Gaetan Bosiers ('72 Davy van den Berg) - Leandro Fernandes; Amar Catic ('56 Yasin Aalillou) - Joel Piroe - Karim Bannani.

On the bench not substituted: Mike van de Meulenhof.
Yellow: Justin Lonwijk (foul play).