Late Babel goal rescues three points for Ajax

Relief. Once again. Ajax knew that if they want to more or less compete for the top two berths in the Eredivisie in the second half of the season, they had to take full advantage of the 3-3 draw between Feyenoord and PSV. For 88 exciting, difficult minutes it seemed like the Amsterdammers would have to settle for a disappointing draw with Vitesse. But then the most euphoric moment of Ryan Babel's tender career arrived: Maxwell's cross came in from the left, goalkeeper Jevric couldn't hold on to Rafaël van der Vaart's slamming header - and there was Babel to hammer the rebound into the netting: 1-0 (88'). Euphoria for Babel, who celebrated his winner with some impressive cartwheels and somersaults. What his team-mates and supporters felt, however, was - more than anything else - relief.

The past week was not an easy one: two bad results (against Bayern and Vitesse) could have made the remainder of the season a formality, in which Ajax had nothing left to win. Meanwhile, there was the 'Van der Vaart affair': the Ajax captain told Ronald Koeman that he did not want to play as a left winger against Bayern. He was on the bench and (the next day) stripped of the captain's armband, which against Vitesse was worn by Tomás Galásek.

No, it was not an easy week. But, at the end of the day, the required results were shakily booked: a draw against Bayern (so that Ajax will be in the bowl for Friday's UEFA Cup draw) and a last-gasp win over Vitesse, so that Ajax finally came a bit closer to PSV (the gap is now eight points) and increased their lead over Feyenoord to three points. AZ, the spectacular #2 on the table, keep winning (5-0 over Twente this weekend).

Wesley Sneijder. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

As for Vitesse: the Arnhem side fought against relegation in recent seasons and almost went bankrupt on a more than one occasion, but somehow managed to land respectable Eredivisie players such as former Ajacieden Richard Knopper and Abubakari Yakubu, plus two of the most prominent names from Utrecht's succesful cupfighting squad of recent years, Stijn Vreven and striker Igor Gluscevic. Vitesse came to Amsterdam as the league's #7 and Purrel Fränkel's 10th minute shot served as a warning: it hit the outside of the post.

Vitesse (whose head-coach, Edward Sturing, served a one game suspension and watched from the stands) were in no way the weaker side in the first half. Ajax had only slightly more possession, but Vitesse's attacks were at least as threatening as Ajax's, although the two best chances after Fränkel's post-hitting striker were for the hosts: Rafaël van der Vaart pulled the ball, offering Wesley Sneijder an unmarked shooting opportunity from inside the penalty area, right in front of goal. He rocketed the ball metres over the cross-bar. Van der Vaart himself almost surprised Jevric with a low, diagonal shot in the 27th minute, but it went inches wide of the far post. Vitesse came close to scoring after a fast counter-attack in the 44th minute, but Stijn Schaars' low cross was a mere inch too 'sharp' for Nick Hofs to tip home.

Things hardly changed after the break: Ajax had more possession and more attempts, but Vitesse's breaks were dangerous and culminated in some of the better chances of the game. The very best chance of the second half was for Matthew Amoah in the 68th minute. The ball suddenly dropped in front of the Ghanese striker's right boot, face to face with Hans Vonk, but he wildly fired over the cross-bar. In spite of the fact that Ajax (with a convincing Daniël de Ridder as a substitute) increased the pressure, succesfully stirred up the home crowd and saw goalkeeper Jevric save on Babel, Van der Vaart and Sneijder shots, they failed to create chances as enormous as Amoah's.

Mauro Rosales. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Until the 88th minute, that is, in which Ryan Babel rescued the three points. A deserved win, after all? Everyone with a red and white heart said yes (and Ajax were, indeed, the side that most obviously wanted to win), but the truth is that Ajax never displayed the true power to force the well-organized visitors to their knees. A point for Vitesse would not have been undeserved.

"It was 0-0 and we had to do something," said Ronald Koeman, explaining why Ajax played with four strikers in the last twenty minutes (De Ridder, Anastasiou, Babel and Rosales). "That's why we started playing with four strikers, as risky as it is. But we went for it and got the reward for it. We searched for luck and we found it."

A few weeks ago the Ajax boss stated that Ajax had to win all of their remaining games before the winter break. The Amsterdammers' have done the business since, grabbing four league wins in a row. The last one before the winter break is next week's tough road game at FC Groningen. "After that," said Ronald Koeman, "it will depend on the teams that are higher on the table than us. Will they get a backlash at some point? I think they will. It's normal for every team to go through a difficult period in a season. I don't think AZ will continue to score like they did this weekend, for example. And we've already had our bad period, in my opinion."

Ajax can prepare for their visit to the club where Ronald Koeman started his career in a friendly against another former club of the Ajax boss: FC Barcelona, to be played in the Spanish town of Elche on Tuesday. (MP)

GOALS

• 88' 1-0 Ryan Babel

Referee: Van Sichem
Yellow cards: Escudé (Ajax), Hofs, Yakubu (Vitesse)
Attendance: 48,214

Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, De Jong, Escudé, Maxwell; Galásek, Van der Vaart (90. Obodai), Sneijder (73. Anastasiou); Rosales, Babel, Mitea (70. De Ridder).

Vitesse line-up: Jevric; Vreven, Jansen, Yakubu, Fränkel; Schaars, Knopper, Hofs, Rojer (90. Dors); Gluscevic (85. Benson), Amoah.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie games 2004-2005
• Ajax.nl: Match report in Dutch and English