KNVB Beker Wednesday Round-Up: Easy Win For PSV, AZ Escape Against Amateurs

Gemert 2-2 WHC**
NEC* 2-1 Excelsior
Heerenveen 4-2 RBC Roosendaal
AZ* 5-2 Spakenburg
FC Twente 3-0 Capelle
Baronie* 1-0 Excelsior M
Vitesse 1-5 FC Groningen
Roda JC 0-2 PSV

* Extra-time
** Penalty-kicks

NEC had a difficult evening against Excelsior and the Rotterdam side got several chances to open the score. Nevertheless, it was John Goossens who gifted NEC the lead after 54 minutes of play. The guests fought back though and Guyon Fernandez drew things level in the dying minutes of the game. Experienced defender Patrick Pothuizen ended Excelsior's cup dreams with a goal in extra-time to help NEC progress.

Daryl Janmaat helped Heerenveen to an early lead against RBC after about ten minutes and the Friezen cruised to a comfortable victory in the remainder of the game. Goran Popov, Michal Papadopulos and Michel Breuer all scored for the home side, while Sjoerd Ars scored a brace for the Eerstedivisie side. Nevertheless, Ars' efforts were not good enough to trouble Heerenveen.

Amateur side Spakenburg appeared to be on their way to a shock result when they took the lead against reigning Dutch champions AZ after only five minutes of play via Thijs Houwing. The Alkmaar side fought back though and Pontus Wernbloom and Stijn Schaars helped AZ to a 2-1 lead before Bonevacia netted the equalizer well into stoppage time. Spakenburg had given too much to keep up with AZ in extra-time though and Wernbloom, Jonathas and Mounir el Hamdaoui eventually helped the Champions League hopefuls to a 5-2 victory.

Twente dominated the game against Capelle from the start and got a deserved lead around the half hour mark, when Luuk de Jong opened the score after a brilliant pass from David Carney. Once again De Jong and Nikita Rukavytsya sealed the deal for the Eredivisie table toppers with goals in the dying minutes of the match.

Groningen made a brilliant start against Vitesse and Thomas Enevoldsen made it 1-0 for the guests after only four minutes. Gifted youngster Leandro Bacuna doubled the lead for Groningen after 22 minutes of play and Fredrik Stenman made things even worse for Vitesse at the half hour mark. Swedish centre back Andreas Granqvist made it four for Groningen minutes before the break with a calm finish. Goran Lovre added to Vitesse's misery halfway the second half when he beat the Vitesse goalie with a shot from inside the area, before Onur Kaya pegged one back in the last minutes of the match.

PSV were never really troubled by Roda and recorded a comfortable win. Stanislav Manolev added his name to the score sheet in the first half after a brilliant through pass from Ibrahim Afellay. Andreas Isaksson pulled off a superb save to deny Jean Paul Saeijs after the break, while Jonathan Reis eventually decided the game with a beautiful volley from the edge of the box.

Stefan Coerts, Goal.com