Vitesse has reclaimed sixth place in the Eredivisie ranking from FC Utrecht. On a visit to Go Ahead Eagles, the Arnhem team triumphed thanks to two goals from Lois Openda. The Belgian gave his team a win for the first time since January 15 with his fourteenth and fifteenth league goals.
kowet today in special shirts, sponsored by artist Snelle, to draw attention to the Beat Batten foundation, which is committed to young children who suffer from Batten disease, a serious metabolic disease. After nine minutes of play, Openda had to put the visitors ahead. A good pass into the depths of Toni Domgjoni put the Vitesse club’s top scorer one-on-one with Andries Noppert, after which he passed the goalkeeper, but saw his shot hit the post. In the counterpunch, it was Isac Lidberg who also failed to score eye-to-eye with Markus Schubert. Three minutes later, it was still a hit for Openda.
After a nice pass from Domgjoni, he didn’t think twice. Openda knocked the ball over Noppert with a volley from the edge of the sixteen-meter area: 0-1. Boyd Lucassen then tried on behalf of the home team with a shot from outside the penalty area, but saw Schubert process the ball into a corner. Not much later, Lidberg brought the ball from a free kick with a sliding tackle in front of the goal, after goalkeeper Schubert was completely wrong, but he was unable to find a teammate. In the 35th minute it was still hit for the attacker. Lidberg took a pass from captain Bas Kuipers with his chest and finished in a controlled manner: 1-1. The until then attractive game had no great opportunities before half-time and so both teams went to the dressing room with a tie.
Go Ahead Eagles, which saw Joris Kramer drop out with an injury just after the break, saw Vitesse come out of the dressing room strong. The club had several opportunities at the beginning of the second half, but Openda and Adrian Grbic, among others, were unable to score. The latter in particular had a great chance, but the Austrian was unable to direct the ball well enough after a cross by Patrick Vroegh and saw Noppert save. After 69 minutes there was the deserved goal for Vitesse. Riechedly Bazoer gave an excellent cross at Openda, after which the Belgian scored his second goal of the match with a watched header in the far corner: 1-2.
Trainer of the home team Kees van Wonderen reacted to the goal by bringing in both Jacob Mulenga and Ogechika Heil, hoping to force an equalizer. Ten minutes before the end, that resulted in a nice moment, when Mulenga fired on the goal with an overhead kick. The home team, supported by its own audience, was looking for the late equalizer, but was unable to make it deep into injury time despite a header opportunity for goalkeeper Noppert.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 31 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 74 | 78 |
| 2 | PSV | 31 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 42 | 74 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 30 | 20 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 64 |
| 4 | FC Twente | 31 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 15 | 62 |
| 5 | AZ | 31 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 59 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 31 | 14 | 5 | 12 | -9 | 47 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 31 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 45 |
| 8 | Fc Groningen | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | -7 | 36 |
| 9 | Go Ahead Eagles | 31 | 10 | 6 | 15 | -10 | 36 |
| 10 | sc Heerenveen | 31 | 9 | 8 | 14 | -11 | 35 |
| 11 | NEC | 31 | 9 | 8 | 14 | -13 | 35 |
| 12 | Heracles Almelo | 31 | 9 | 7 | 15 | -10 | 34 |
| 13 | SC Cambuur | 31 | 10 | 4 | 17 | -18 | 34 |
| 14 | Fortuna Sittard | 30 | 8 | 5 | 17 | -30 | 29 |
| 15 | RKC Waalwijk | 30 | 6 | 10 | 14 | -17 | 28 |
| 16 | PEC Zwolle | 31 | 7 | 5 | 19 | -23 | 26 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 31 | 5 | 11 | 15 | -23 | 26 |
| 18 | William II | 31 | 7 | 5 | 19 | -30 | 26 |