Late surge sees AZ overcome flat start to defeat Shelbourne 2-0 in the Europa League
AZ picked up a comfortable win over Irish team Shelbourne on Thursday evening. The Alkmaarders took a while to get on the scoresheet, but two goals in the last 20 minutes of the game by Mees de Wit and Isak Jensen sealed the three points.
The win was an important one for AZ’s chances of reaching the next phase of the competition. It was their second win in four games.
Maarten Martens gave 18-year-old Wassim Bouziane his first start at the club. Goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro returned to the side, having recovered from an injury.
AZ were flat in the first half. Their only chance came in the final minutes, when a pre-worked free-kick routine led to Troy Parrott gaining space for a shot against his compatriots, but he pulled the effort wide of the goal.
The home side’s second chance also went to Parrott in the 57th minute. Sven Mijnans found him with a clever chipped pass, but his effort was thwarted by Shelbourne’s Dutch goalkeeper Wessel Speel.
The deadlock was broken in the 70th minute. A corner was played short and then chipped into the box by Peer Koopmeiners to Mees de Wit, who had timed his run well to nod home to the relief of the fans in the AFAS Stadium.
It was not Parrott’s night as the 23-year-old missed another chance to get on the scoresheet. Again, it was a corner creating the danger, with the cross finding the striker unmarked at the far post, but his effort hit the head of Speel before going out for a corner.
This proved not to be an issue as AZ got their second goal in the 87th minute. Isak Jensen was responsible for it, hitting a beautiful effort from around 30 yards into the corner of the goal.
