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Groningen
lineup: Beukenkamp - Elshot, Boekweg, Allach, Florén - Hoogstrate,
Matthijs, Krstev, Broerse - Ikedia, Tuhuteru.
Ajax
lineup: Stekelenburg - Trabelsi, Bergdølmo, Chivu, O'Brien - Galásek, Van
der Vaart, Maxwell - Van der Meyde, Mido, Sikora.
Ajax had an easy win this afternoon thanks to
Groningen's overly-respectful and passive approach which gave Victor Sikora and Rafael van der
Vaart all the room they needed to harrass the home team's defence. The
Amsterdammers didn't even play particularly well and their fans, who
were banned from showing their faces in Groningen by the local mayor,
missed absolutely nothing in terms of footballing entertainment. Ajax went
ahead early on when Sikora set
up Van der Vaart with an easy chance to beat Roy Beukenkamp in the 13th
minute, the outstanding young talent slamming the ball high into the
back-of-the-net for the 1-0 and his first goal of the season. The Ajax duo were
also in on the second of
the Amsterdammers' first-half goals - Zlatan Ibrahimovich (who
replaced the injured Mido in the 36th) picked up the ball in midfield and
fed it through to Sikora. The winger then passed it on to Van der Vaart who
tapped in the low pass
from close range to give Ajax a comfortable 2-0 lead to take into the dressing room at halftime.
Six minutes into the 2nd half Sikora served up Andy van der Meyde with a
fine cross which was neatly headed in for the 0-3. Hugo and Martin
Drent were brought on for Hoogstrate and Ignacio Tuhuteru but it didn't help
the Oosterpark side very much, although they did put together some attacking moves which gave
them several opportunities to score. Hugo finally put one away for the home
team in the 75th when he hit in the rebound off Pius Ikedia's shot, which
had been parried by Maarten Stekelenburg. With the final whistle in sight(?) they then allowed Ajax to take over once
more but the Amsterdammers neglected to add to their tally. Nonetheless, Ronald Koeman will be more than happy with the three away points and
a top-of-the-table position.
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