PSV ground out a hard-fought home win over sc Heerenveen on Friday night. Peter Bosz's side went ahead at the Philips Stadion through Guus Til, but the Frisians squandered a string of chances. Marcus Linday's own goal made it 2-0 after the break. PSV's Armando Obispo also escaped a second yellow card from referee Joey Kooij shortly before that second goal.
Bosz started Esmir Bajraktarevic against Heerenveen, with the winger preferred to Ivan Perisic and Dennis Man. PSV began on the front foot and created chances for Ruben van Bommel, Noah Fernandez and Sven Mijnans. The visitors were anything but overawed, though, and looked dangerous mainly through Maxence Rivera in front of Matej Kovar's goal.
Within the opening 20 minutes, Rivera had three chances to put Heerenveen in front. The Frenchman first fired wide, then saw a long-range effort tipped over the bar by Kovar, before wasting a huge one-on-one chance against the Czech goalkeeper. PSV rode out that spell and struck at the other end in the 29th minute.
Bajraktarevic swung the ball into the box from the right, where Heerenveen goalkeeper Bernt Klaverboer could only half-clear it. The ball dropped perfectly for Til, who nodded home at the back post for 1-0. It was already his fifth league goal in eight matches this season for the Netherlands international.
Three minutes after the opener came a debatable moment involving Van Bommel, who caught Sam Kersten in the face with his foot after a long ball from Kovar. The Heerenveen defender needed treatment, but referee Joey Kooij kept his cards in his pocket and gave only a free-kick. Heerenveen still carried a threat after that, although Linday missed a big chance shortly before half-time.
PSV barely escaped Heerenveen's pressure after the restart. Dylan Vente fired a free-kick into the wall, while Courtens and Vente then profited from some defensive bungling without managing to score. In the 57th minute, Kersten went down after contact with the far-advanced Kovar, but Kooij saw no reason to give the visitors a free-kick.
A few minutes later, PSV again got away with a major refereeing call. Obispo, who had already been booked, held on to an opponent but was not shown a second yellow card, much to the frustration of Heerenveen midfielder Linday, who was himself booked for protesting. Bosz reacted soon after by taking Obispo off, while Perisic and Filip Kostic also came on.
That triple change paid off almost immediately, because PSV doubled their lead in the 68th minute from a corner taken by Perisic. Kostic headed the ball towards goal and it crossed the line via Linday, with Maas Willemsen arriving too late to stop it.
From there, Heerenveen never looked capable of making a game of it again. Bosz also handed 18-year-old Shuryjano Cornecion his PSV first-team debut in the 82nd minute, before the Eindhoven side comfortably saw the game out. Mijnans went close to a third, but dragged his shot just wide from 16 metres. It finished 2-0.