Tukker's luck
FC Twente 2 - 2 PSV 6 April 2017
Where to start? The home team playing like the away team, 2 super strikes from quality players to send them in level at half time, a scrambled goal to nose PSV in front, and their almost total second half control broken by a spirited young side who - clearly - don't know when they are beaten.
All that and a botched stadium evacuation which most people - players included, the game continued unabated - ignored.
PSV meant business from the off, focused on not ceding any ground to Ajax in the race for second. But ultimately they failed, reverting back to the strange habit they adopted in the first half of the season of contriving to draw games they really should have won.
Not that this detracts from Twente's performance. I love young sides who play with flair and abandon and the sort of joie de vivre which comes from just being on the pitch.
Indeed it was Enis Unal, with his 15th goal of the season who nosed the reds in front after 7 minutes, a crisp diagonal finish having been played in by the flying Finn Fredrik Jensen. They hadn't done anything all game to that point other than defend.
PSV were level five minutes later Jurgen Locadia with his second eye-catching finish in 2 games - he's the real deal - and it looked like there would only be one winner, especially when Hector Moreno followed up Siem de Jong's blocked effort ten minutes into the second half for 1-2.
Twente steadily played themselves back into contention after that point, but with the stadium announcer, on 75 minutes, asking fans to clear the stadium without much explanation (even if Dutch isn't your first language) things off the pitch became a little distracting. Apparently it all related to a drugs bust. Twente were recently fined by the KNVB (the Dutch FA) for displaying a banner which read "Hash, coke and pills, here we go". The cops waded into Vak P at the home end, and the rest is a mess. All we can expect is red faces all round.
Oh, the game.
Twente were pressing, if a little unconvincingly, at the death when stand out midfielder found himself in space and with time, following neat passing play from a free kick, Kosovan Man City loanee Bersant Celina cooly guided it home under Zoet's unconvincing dive in the 91st minute. I thought he looked Twente's best player by a country mile. A well-deserved goal and great finale.
The fans celebrated like they've won - well you do with an equaliser at the death don't you? And it was home, seventh place secured until at least Sunday when Twente face a tricky trip to Utrecht. Not that Europe is on their horizon, they are banned for 2 more years. PSV, meanwhile, really are concentrating on second.
