PSV super-sub Ricardo Pepi landed a late blow against Zwolle in a game that saw all three of the team’s Americans contribute to the big win, while Paxten Aaronson netted his first goal for Vitesse in their road win over Excelsior.
Zwolle 1 – 7 PSV
After a midweek Champions League hiccup, PSV Eindhoven returned to their league dominance by destroying mid-table Zwolle by a six goal margin. Sergino Dest was the only one of the three PSV Americans to get into the starting line-up but Malik Tillman came on in the 69th minute, followed by Ricardo Pepi in the 72nd. The Texan also scored his sixth goal of the season.
As usual, Anthony Fontana was on the bench for Zwolle, but was not called into action.
Despite the dominance it took almost a half hour before the visitors were celebrating their first goal. It was Johan Bakayoko who scored when Dest set him up. The Belgian’s second came just after the hour mark.
But it was the Luuk de Jong show in Zwolle because the Eredivisie’s top goal-getter added three more to his tally with strikes in the 32nd, 51st and 71st minutes of the game. Showing that he is a versatile player, the #9 also assisted on Bakayoko’s second goal.
The last goal of the game came in the 86th minute and it started with a very sweet cross from the right flank by Tillman, who picked out his American colleague near the far post. Pepi then had an easy tap in from close range.
Now with a 10-point lead over second place Feyenoord, up next PSV will face Feyenoord Rotterdam on Sunday afternoon.
Excelsior 1 – 2 Vitesse
Paxten Aaronsen went the distance for the Arhnem outfit when they travelled to Rotterdam to take on Excelsior, and the youngster hit the back of the net for the first time since arriving from Frankfurt.
Excelsior defender Kik Pierie is again injured, and missed the game for the hosts after a run of starts stretching back to mid-January.
After a scoreless first half, the hosts got the scoring underway when Lance Duijvestijn tucked the ball into the bottom right hand corner from the center of the box.
The lead lasted all of seven minutes however, because it was time for the American to open up his Dutch account. Aaronsen got his shot off from just outside of the six yard box and easily beat the Excelsoir keeper.
The eventual game winner came four minutes before the final whistle when Nicolas Isimat-Mirin used his head from close range.
The American will look for his second goal this coming weekend when his side hosts third-place Twente.
Volendam 0 – 4 Heerenveen
Last place Volendam continued their losing ways over the weekend when they welcomed Michael Bradley’s former team and were soundly beaten by the Super Friesians. Zach Booth was in the starting lineup for the Other Orange and went the distance in the losing effort.
Man of the match Pelle van Amersfoort struck twice, hitting his sixth goal of the season after just 13 minutes, assisted by Thom Haye. His second came minutes after Simon Olssen made it 2-0, with the assist this time from Sven van Beek.
Haye, who assisted on the first goal, scored one of his own when the clock hit 90 minutes, to complete the scoring on the night.
Volendam, who are in last place on 13 point will look to find a victory when they host seventh place NEC over the weekend.
Notes
Taylor Booth is sidelined with an injury, so missed Utrecht’s 1-0 victory over Heracles. Next up for the eighth place team is a trip to Amsterdam to take on fifth place Ajax.
Philippe Sandler started in the NEC Nijmegen backfield on Saturday, as a sturdy defensive performance saw the team beat visiting Sparta Rotterdam by a 2-0 margin.
