AZ did not make a mistake on a visit to RKC Waalwijk on Saturday. After a weak start, Pascal Jansen’s team was deservedly behind in the Mandemakers Stadium, but managed to put things in order in the second half: 1-3. That was partly thanks to RKC’ers Anas Tahiri, who gave away a goal to Myron Boadu, and Sylla Sow, who took a clumsy red. AZ remains third behind PSV on goal difference, while RKC remains fourteenth.
At AZ, captain Teun Koopmeiners had to drop out due to illness, so that a basic place was reserved for Tijjani Reijnders. The Alkmaarders started out of focus and by the slipping of Timo Letschert immediately gave away an enormous opportunity to Richard van der Venne. The attacking midfielder of RKC shot in complete freedom at the feet of Marco Bizot. Moments later, the ball fell on the edge of the penalty area again at the feet of Van der Venne, who this time stopped and sent Thijs Oosting away. The attacker hired from AZ cleverly pointed the ball over Bizot: 0-1.
AZ’s game didn’t get much better after that, but after half an hour the North Hollanders managed to come back. With a bit of luck, Stengs got hold of the ball on the edge of the box and passed Gudmundsson. The Icelander cleverly turned away from his opponent in the penalty area and calmly poked the ball in the corner: 1-1. Early in the second half, Reijnders shot just over after Albert Gudmundsson was put back, but apart from that, AZ hardly became dangerous.
The visitors got the lead in the 64th minute thrown into the lap by Anas Tahiri, who set Myron Boadu free in front of his own keeper with a wrong pass. Boadu remained calm and passed Kostas Lamprou with the left: 1-2. A little later RKC had to continue with ten men, because Sylla Sow got red. According to referee Dennis Higler, the attacker consciously pushed his shoe into Letschert’s face when the two became entwined after a duel.
AZ exploited the advantage in the 82nd minute via Calvin Stengs, who after a through ball from Gudmundsson in the penalty area kept Ahmed Touba away and found the far corner: 1-3. Gudmundsson got a free shooting opportunity in injury time after a good individual action, but shot wildly over. It led to anger at substitute Dani de Wit, who would have liked the ball.
| No. | Team | M. | W. | G. | V. | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 30 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 68 | 76 |
| 2 | PSV | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 64 |
| 3 | AZ | 31 | 19 | 7 | 5 | 28 | 64 |
| 4 | Vitesse | 31 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 60 |
| 5 | Feyenoord | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 29 | 55 |
| 6 | FC Utrecht | 31 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 50 |
| 7 | Fc Groningen | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 46 |
| 8 | Heracles Almelo | 31 | 12 | 6 | 13 | -6 | 42 |
| 9 | Fortuna Sittard | 31 | 12 | 4 | 15 | -6 | 40 |
| 10 | sc Heerenveen | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | -3 | 37 |
| 11 | Sparta Rotterdam | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | -4 | 37 |
| 12 | FC Twente | 31 | 9 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 37 |
| 13 | PEC Zwolle | 31 | 8 | 11 | 12 | -7 | 35 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 31 | 6 | 8 | 17 | -20 | 26 |
| 15 | Willem II | 31 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -30 | 25 |
| 16 | FC Emmen | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | -26 | 24 |
| 17 | VVV Venlo | 31 | 6 | 4 | 21 | -42 | 22 |
| 18 | Ado den Haag | 30 | 2 | 10 | 18 | -45 | 16 |