Sparta Rotterdam has a point left in the very last seconds of the meeting with AZ on Saturday evening. The men of debuting coach Maurice Steijn were on their way to a disappointing 0-1 defeat, until Vito van Crooij struck deep in injury time with a beautiful free kick: 1-1. Sparta remains just in last place on goal difference, but now has as many points as PEC Zwolle and Willem II. AZ remains fifth and sees number three Feyenoord and number four FC Twente get out of sight.
A striking feature of AZ’s line-up was the absence of Dani de Wit in it. The number 10 was placed on the bench by Jansen and replaced by Tijjani Reijnders. AZ clearly had the most claim to the opening goal, but Sparta managed to survive the first half. This was partly thanks to Maduka Okoye, who saved the greatest opportunity from Alkmaar seven minutes before halftime. Reijnders broke through after a one-two with Vangelis Pavlidis, but did not get past the Nigerian international.
AZ further increased the pressure in the final phase of the first half and combined well to create a great opportunity for Zakaria Aboukhlal. The wing striker accomplished in complete freedom next to Okoye’s goal. Sparta faced some threat before half-time, which came mainly from the foot of Youness Namli. The midfielder fired in a promising attempt from twenty with just wide.
Three minutes after the break, Sparta’s defense was beaten. Aboukhlal sent Pavlidis away, who took the ball and shot it in: 0-1. The goal had a sharp smell of offside, but the VAR was unable to make a judgment due to the lack of a correct camera position. The verdict of the assistant referee therefore stood: valid goal. Reijnders came close to the next after an hour of play, but Okoye made a good save in the bottom corner.
Sparta suddenly appeared in front of the goal with a sliding punch from Lennart Thy, who was caught by Peter Vindahl. The Rotterdam team came much closer through two standard situations, but Tom Beugelsdijk and then Sven Mijnans couldn’t get the ball in from very close range. The latter in particular can blame himself for this, because he had plenty of time to tap the ball into an almost empty goal. Sparta made up for it after all, when Van Crooij placed a free kick from a great distance into the bottom corner: 1-1.