http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luuk-de-Jong-c22956 scored from the spot to give Steve McClaren’s men a hard fought victory in the first-leg of UEFA Europa League round of 16.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Twente-c39233 Enschede recorded a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Schalke 04 at De Grolsch Veste on March 8.
The Tukkers started the match brightly and looked better of the two sides. However, the visiting side came close to breaking the deadlock first. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Atsuto-Uchida-c6908 tried his luck from range in the seventh minute, but the Enschede giants' goalkeeper, Nikolay Mihailov,
parried it away with ease.
As the match progressed, the home side started to show their class and asserted authority throughout the first-half action.
Luuk de Jong headed straight at the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Rosales-c31362 sent a good cross into the box for Nacer Chadli, who failed to find the back of the net with his header.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Peter-Wisgerhof-c29829 tried his luck from the edge of the box at the half-hour mark, but Hildebrand made a brilliant diving save to deny the Tukkers from taking the lead.
Ola John’s cross found Chadli inside the penalty area on numerous occasions, but the Belgian ace failed to hit the target.
Although the home side enjoyed most goalscoring opportunities, the score-line remained 0-0 at the half-time break.
The Tukkers resumed proceedings after the break impressively and mounted immense pressure on the visitors’ back-line. In the 61st minute, the outfit from Enschede managed to break the deadlock in controversial circumstances.
John played a neat ball to De Jong, who raced towards the penalty area. Joel Matip was chasing the Dutch striker, but the 21-yer-old went down just outside the box after clipping his own heel .
The referee and the lines-man made a mess of the situation, awarding a penalty to the home side while giving Matip his marching orders .
De Jong coolly converted the spot kick into the top left corner of the net. The Royal Blues tried to score an equaliser but they failed to move forward with ease.
The Tukkers could have doubled their lead seven minutes before the full time whistle, but De Jong headed wide of the target. When the referee blew the final whistle, the score-line read 1-0 in favour of the Tukkers.
Tags: