Vitesse has achieved a victory in the Eredivisie for the first time since the end of January. The team of trainer Thomas Letsch was 4-1 too strong for VVV-Venlo in-house, which, via the 23rd competition goal of Giorgos Giakoumakis, was still on the same level in the first half. Because of the victory, Vitesse passes Feyenoord in the rankings, but the Arnhem team played one more match. VVV has been overtaken by RKC Waalwijk in the ranking and is now one place above the relegation line. The margin at number sixteen ADO Den Haag is seven points. On Tuesday, Vitesse and VVV will play against each other again, then in the semi-finals of the TOTO KNVB Cup.
VVV met a favorite opponent with Vitesse, as the team only won more often against Willem II this century (7 against 6 victories). On Saturday evening, however, things quickly went wrong for Hans de Koning’s team. Armando Broja was sent deep to the left of the field, put the ball wide on Loïs Openda and saw how the Belgian shot against the ropes from close to his seventh of the season from the bottom of the bar: 1-0. Not much later, the same Openda served Oussama Tannane on the edge of the sixteen, but the attacking midfielder was too busy in the completion and saw his shot go well wide.
The visitors from Limburg played along nicely until that moment and came to the same level after more than fifteen minutes of play. Torino Hunte was unnecessarily knocked to the ground in the corner of the sixteen by Riechedly Bazoer, after which Giakoumakis sent Remko Pasveer into the wrong corner from the spot and made his 23rd goal of the season: 1-1. At the end of January, Giakoumakis Vitesse single-handedly shot to the slaughter with four hits in the home game won 4-1. VVV got the chance to take the lead before half-time, when Meritan Shabani suddenly appeared in front of Pasveer’s nose. The midfielder had the ball for the shot, but laid wide and destroyed a good opportunity.
In the second act, Vitesse managed to get a better grip on the duel and Broja caused the first moment of excitement, when he found Thorsten Kirschbaum’s fists after a free passage. After an hour of play, Vitesse took the lead for the second time. Bazoer fumbled past a number of VVV players, then got the ball in the course of Matús Bero and finished nicely with a shot into the right intersection: 2-1. Just before that, Jacob Rasmussen headed just over with a header from close range, on Tannane’s pass.
The only time that VVV became dangerous in the second half was twenty minutes before the end, when Giakoumakis had a free passage towards Pasveer. The Greek tried with a lob, which was defused by an outstretched arm of Pasveer. Moreover, Giakoumakis was in an offside position. The game was decided fifteen minutes before the end by Sondre Tronstad. The Norwegian tried from a great distance and saw that his shot changed direction left Kirschbaum without a chance for the third time. When not much later Bero found the detached Broja, the Albanian put the 4-1 final score on the board from close by.