|
Ajax beat NEC with 10
Sunday 18 January 2009
Down to 10 at a score of 2-2 Ajax
looked in trouble this afternoon at NEC Nijmegen but
a great fighting spirit as well as some fortune gave
them the three points anyway.
Marco van Basten paid some extra
attention to Miralem Sulejmani during a training
camp last week, because he thought the Serb needed to
become a bit more decisive for his team.
That investment of time and energy
has paid off immediately, because with two goals and
one assist Sulejmani in Ajax 2-4 victory over NEC Nijmegen.
The victory was even more impressive
as Ajax scored the winning goals in a period in which
they were down to 10 after forward Dario Cvitanich received
his second yellow with 20 minutes on the clock and 2-2
on the scoreboard.
Some 10 minutes after Cvitanich
walked off Dani Fernandez hurt his team badly with an
own goal of the terrible kind.
A firm Sulejmani cross from the
left came right at him, but instead of firmly heading
it away he pulled in his head which caused the ball
to just deflect enough to fly over his goal keeper and
into the top corner: 2-3.
NEC of course aggressively went
looking for the equalizer, but although they went close
a few times Gabri decided matters in the 95th minute
after a fast counter attack down the middle: 2-4.
With veteran Patrick Pothuizen
as a replacement for the sold center back Wisgerhof
NEC looked shaky at the back which gave Ajax a handful
of opportunities.
They even scored but Cvitanich
was called off side.
When the Ajax storm subsided the
hometeam had the better of the play with chances for
Pothuizen, Ntibazonkiza and Schöne.
After the break efficiency was
higher as Sulejmani, Ramon Zomer and again Sulejmani
scored within a stretch of 6 minutes.
Youssouf El-Akchaoui leveled the
teams 15 minutes later and when Cvitanich was sent off
things looked good for the team of Mario Been.
But it was again Sulejmani who
helped his team with his free kick that was headed by
Fernandez.
With AZ also winning 0-2 at Volendam
the gap between the two leaders remains 3 points.
NEC - Ajax 2-4
0-1 48' M. Sulejmani
1-1 50' R. Zomer
1-2 54' M. Sulejmani
2-2 67' Y. El-Akchaoui
2-3 78' D. Fernandez (o.g.)
2-4 95' Gabri
|
