PEC Zwolle did excellent business on Friday evening by beating Vitesse 1-0 at the start of matchday 19. The only goal of the match was scored by Eliano Reijnders. This means that PEC Zwolle takes further distance from the bottom places in the rankings.
Van der Vegt on the bench
Without the ill trainer Johnny Jansen, Henry van der Vegt was therefore ultimately responsible, PEC Zwolle started the match well. In the first fifteen minutes it was already dangerous from a distance through Ody Velanas. Then Vitesse goalkeeper Eloy Room was able to save the day. He had no chance against Eliano Reijnders’ close-range attempt. The Zwolle resident was sent deep by Younes Namli and scored nicely: 1-0. Then the game came to a standstill for several minutes, because Melle Meulensteen and Lennart Thy bumped heads. Thy was able to continue playing, Vitesse player Meulensteen had to leave the field injured. The visitors had the ball more often after that, but they did not really threaten. The most dangerous was Marco van Ginkel with a header that went past Jasper Schendelaar’s goal.
No second hit
On the other hand, Reijnders had a huge opportunity on his second. However, he decided to play goalkeeper Room where shooting seemed a better option, and the opportunity was lost. Davy van den Berg also had a few nice shooting opportunities in the closing stages of the first half, but Room prevented a goal. And then there was Bram van Polen’s close-range chance, who came in front of Thy and shot the ball wide of the goal.
There is no liberating goal
Zwolle’s chances continued to pile up in the second half. It was a hit around minute 56. After a nice attack, Younes Namli shot from the edge of the penalty area. Room dived towards the intersection to knock the ball out of the goal. In the series of corner kicks that followed, Sam Kersten came close to making it 2-0 with a header. Thomas Lam stood three meters from the goal to give the decisive push with his head, but the ball again did not go between the posts.
After another injury treatment, this time Youri Tielemans left the field at Vitesse with a head injury, the Arnhem team looked for more attack. Schendelaar had to intervene once in the final phase on a shot by ex-PEC striker Thomas Buitink, but that was it. Because PEC kept their ranks closed in the eight minutes of extra time, but did not come close to 2-0 themselves, the score remained at 1-0 this time. Enough for three very important points.
Next Sunday, February 4, PEC Zwolle will visit Het Kasteel. The kick-off against Sparta is at 4:45 PM.
PEC Zwolle – Vitesse: 1-0 (1-0).
Spectators: 13.800
Referee: Gerrets
Yellow cards: Fichtinger, Mac Nulty, Van Polen (PEC Zwolle), Hendriks and Oroz (Vitesse)
PEC Zwolle line-up: Schendelaar, Van Polen, Kersten, Lam, Mac Nulty, Fichtinger (76. El Azzouzi), Van den Berg, Velanas (90+7. Van der Haar), Thy, Namli (76. Vellios), Reijnders
Vitesse line-up: Room, Oroz (83. Arcus), Isimat-Mirin, Hendriks (86. Mazulu), Cornelisse, Manhoef, Meulensteen (23. Domgjoni), Van Ginkel, Pröpper (46. Tielemans, 64. Buitink), Boutrah, Visser (64 .De Regt)
Score progression:
16. Reijnders 1-0
MatchWorks Man of the Match:
Eliano Reijnders
