First-half goals from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dries-Mertens-c11679, Tim Matavz and Kevin Strootman proved enough for the Eindhoven giants to progress through to the Dutch Cup semi-finals.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/NEC-c40018 Nijmegen at Philips Stadion on Thursday, February 2.
The home side commenced proceedings in front of their home crowd brilliantly and needed only five minutes to break the deadlock through Dries Mertens. NEC goalkeeper, Gabor Babos, denied http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kevin-Strootman-c20775’s free-kick, but the ball fell tamely to the Belgian
winger, who made no mistake in hitting the back of the net.
The Nijmegen outfit levelled the score-line ten minutes later following some sloppy defending from the home side. Lasse Schone’s low shot beat the PSV goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcelo-c23554 managed to stop the ball from crossing the goal-line, Nick
van der Velden was quick to tap home from close range.
PSV struggled to control the game while NEC mounted pressure with their impressive counterattacks. Leroy George almost gifted the visitors a well deserving lead in the 26th minute, but his long range effort hit the crossbar before the hosts managed
to clear the ball.
As the match progressed, the Eindhoven giants started to assert their authority on the pitch and managed to restore their one-goal lead four minutes before the half-time break. Ola Toivonen’s neat pass found Tim Matavz in the box, and the Slovenian ace fired
home with ease.
Two minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead following a quick counterattack. Jeremain Lens’ through ball found Kevin Strootman at the edge of the box on the left flank, and the youngster’s powered effort from a narrow angle found the bottom right corner
of the net to make the score-line 3-1.
NEC managed to pull one back in the stoppage time of the opening half when Lasse Schone volleyed the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
After the half-time break, the visitors remained the better side on the pitch with their impressive play. In the 78th minute, they almost levelled the score-line. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Leroy-George-c22129’s cross from the right found Melvin Platje at the edge of the area.
However, his effort sailed inches over the bar, much to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fred-c14136 Rutten's relief.
NEC tried their best to score the equaliser, but they failed to create any further opportunities and the match sealed 3-2 in favour of PSV.
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