Cole Bassett couldn’t stop Fortuna Sittard’s collapse against Utrecht, long-forgotten USMNT youth prospect Joshua Pynadath notched an assist in his first competitive game in over two years.
Fortuna Sittard 3 – 4 FC Utrecht
Cole Basset was a late substitute for Fortuna Sittard while Taylor Booth didn’t make it off of Utrecht’s bench, as a lively seven-goal second half saw Utrecht pull out the victory.
Bas Dost put Fortuna in the lead in the 64th minute, thumping a short tap-over from Moussa Sylla into the Utrecht goal, however Rodrigo Guth equalized three minutes later when he headed in a corner from Mats Seuntjens.
In the 70th minute, Anastasios Douvikas gave Utrecht their first lead from the spot, after an unnecessary foul by the Utrecht defense on Othman Boussaid on the left edge of the area.
Bassett entered the game in the 74th minute in place of left midfielder George Cox, and had a competent outing with 15 touches, five completed passes in eight attempts and two passes into the attacking third, although it did nothing to help Fortuna’s sinking fortunes.
Douvikas gave Utrecht the two-goal advantage in the 75th minute with a fine shot on the turn, however Burak Yilmaz kept Fortuna’s hopes alive with a spot kick to the lower left corner in the 81st minute.
With four minutes left in regulation, Douvikas took the air out of their hosts with an acrobatic mid-air strike to give Utrecht the 4-2 advantage.
While Fortuna’s Tijjani Noslin did somehow fight his way to a third goal for the hosts in the sixth minute of added time, the whistle blew shortly after, giving the visitors all three points.
With five games played, Cole and his Fortuna teammates are dead-last with no points, and a visit to NEC Nijmegen on Saturday. Booth and his teammates are 11th in the standings following their first victory of the season, and host Vitesse on Sunday.
Jong AZ 3 – 1 FC Dordrecht
More than two years after his last competitive appearance, 20 year-old American prospect Joshua Pynadath marked his debut for Jong AZ with an assist, helping the team come back from an early deficit to blow past FC Dordrecht on Monday night.
Dordrecht took the lead after only four minutes with a fine strike from the edge of the area from Samuele Longo, however the game was increasingly in Jong AZ’s control before an explosive second half gave the hosts the win.
Pynadath, who was making his first appearance on the Jong AZ bench so far this season, entered the game in the 51st minute and did more than enough to leave his mark after more than two years of inaction.
Damienus Reverson pulled the score even in the 52nd minute after running onto a through-ball from Soulaïman Allouch and beating Dordrecht keeper Liam Bossin, then Allouch was again the trigger-man just past the hour, sending in a cross that Micha Engel headed home for the lead.
Barely two minutes later, Pynadath struck a long forward pass from his own back field to spring Allouch up the left side, and the 20 year-old attacker cut briefly inside before targeting the lower left corner for the 3-1 lead.
Jong AZ are now third in the Eerste Divisie standings, and will visit ADO Den Haag on Friday.
Jong Ajax 4 – 0 Heracles
Kik Pierie had another fine performance anchoring the back line for Jong Ajax, as they had no problems taking all three points in their 4-0 shut-out victory over Heracles.
Pierie played the full game at center back for Jong Ajax, having 72 total touches, completing 51 of 62 passes, taking one shot, hitting six of nine long balls, and intercepting a pair of passes.
Just prior to the halftime whistle, Lorenzo Lucca was the last Ajax player to get his foot on the ball as it clattered around in the Heracles area following a corner, and redirected it over the line for the lead.
Lucca emphatically made it 2-0 just past the 56-minute mark, smacking the ball from the right post with a strength that left Heracles keeper Michael Brouwer no chance for the save.
By then, the game was already put to rest, but Donny Warmerdam made it certain with a short, scrappy strike in the 73rd minute, then put any hopes of a late comeback to rest with a cool, ten-yard finish with nine minute left.
Jong Ajax are back in action on Friday with a visit to Top OSS.
Jong PSV 0 – 3 TOP Oss
Richard Ledezma and Dante Sealy had virtually no overlap in playing time for Jong PSV on Monday evening, however not even their combined strength could have altered the course of the team’s 3-0 home loss to TOP Oss.
Ledezma was perhaps the best player for Jong PSV over his 58 minutes, making a whopping 73 total touches, completing 93% of his 61 passes, taking one shot, creating an additional three chances, and drawing one foul.
TOP already had a two-goal lead before the half, with Trevor David lunging forward to put away Jearl Margaritha’s long cross int he 25th minute, then Justin Mathieu struck Toshio Lake’s short lay-off into the netting for the 2-0 lead.
Lake then scored one of his own in the 48th minute, doing all of the hard work to pull down the ball and maintain possession under heavy pressure, before smacking it to the far post for the 3-0 lead.
Ledezma departed and Sealy entered the field of play just before the hour mark, however the changes had little influence on the final outcome, with TOP cruising to the 3-0 victory.
Jong PSV are in 16th place, with a visit to Roda JC Kerkrade on Friday,
Notes
Ricardo Pepi is reportedly still waiting on his Dutch work permit, and was not included in Groningen’s squad on Sunday for their 1-0 home loss to Vitesse.
