Brett Holman’s strike was cancelled out by Quin Kruysen but Jozy Altidore’s header gave Gertjan Verbeek’s side a deserving victory over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ton-c35408 Lokhoff’s men.
In round-31 of the Dutch top tier, AZ Alkmaar cruised to a 2-1 win over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VVV-Venlo-c40915 in a breath taking encounter at AFAS Stadion on Sunday, April 22.
The match started in an intense manner with both sides showing aggressive intent. VVV came close to breaking the deadlock in the ninth minute. Yanic Wildschut’s shot was blocked by the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barry-Maguire-c7313,
but his curling effort rattled the right post before going out for a goal kick.
In the 17th minute, Adam Maher registered AZ’s first attempt on target when his long range shot was easily held by the VVV goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dennis-Gentenaar-c10917.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jozy-Altidore-c19634 struck the post, as the home side continued to threaten the Venlo outfit.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dirk-Marcellis-c11349 from the right, but Gentenaar was yet again rock solid between the sticks.
Altidore’s header rattled the post minutes before the break, as the opening 45 minutes ended goalless.
The Alkmaar outfit resumed proceedings after the break in the same manner, and broke the deadlock within two minutes through Brett Holman. A Martens corner was not properly cleared, and the Australian ace unleashed a fierce low drive from the edge of the
box that found the bottom left corner of the net.
However, the visiting side responded impressively and restored parity at the hour mark through Quin Kruysen. Wildschut’s low pass inside the box from the left was neatly tapped in by the midfielder to make the score-line 1-1.
Moments later, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rasmus-Elm-c30628 short-corner from the goal-line, but the visiting side failed to restrict AZ from taking the lead in the 65th minute. Martens sent a good cross from the left after skipping past two defenders and
Altidore did not miss this time, as he headed home at the far post with ease.
After grabbing the lead, the Alkmaar outfit asserted their authority and could have extended their lead further. However, Gentenaar denied Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Adam Maher late in the game from hitting the back of the net with the match ending in a
2-1 win for AZ at the end.
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