FEYENOORD 4–1 RODA JC

Roda JC scarcely created a chance before the break, and the Brazilian was one of the reasons for that. Bahia hardly put a foot wrong in the first forty-five. He did go AWOL once early on however, as did defensive partner Cory Gibbs, when Koné found himself with a nailed-on goalscoring opportunity. The Ivorian whipped the ball over the oncoming Lodewijks after appearing to make a mess of his first touch, but Östlund cleared off the line in spectacular fashion.

The Maassiders took the lead after five minutes through Shinji Ono, with a free kick that caught a deflection and left keeper Kujovic with no chance of getting near the strike. The second goal came halfway through the half – Dirk Kuyt made some space on the right and swept in a tailor-made ball that Castelen headed into the far corner of the net.

That would be the end of the scoring before half time, although it wasn’t for a want of trying. Hofs might have made it three within a couple of minutes, but he was unable to keep his shot out of reach of the Roda keeper. Then Castelen fashioned a chance for himself a little later, but shot over. Kuyt came nearest to adding to the home total, striking the underside of the bar with his header – Kujovic pounced on the ball as it bounced just the wrong side of the line from Feyenoord’s point of view.

Yet the best was still to come. Kalou left Pa-Modou Kah wondering where he’d gone, with a breathtaking individual action but the striker’s shot wasn’t quite as eye-caressing, going over. The visitor’s tried to respond with some attempts of their own but Cissé, Koné and Sergio were all unable to beat Lodewijks with tame efforts.

The home keeper was unable to stop Koné’s fourth attempt in the second half however. Östlund did try to intervene, but the Roda striker was not to be foiled by the Swede this time, netting for the visitors. The goal gave the Kerkrade outfit a confidence boost and they appeared to level things soon after when Cissé got the ball between the posts, but referee Vink ruled out the strike for offside. It was a let off for Feyenoord and Gullit responded by bringing on Hossam Ghaly for Hofs to rejuvenate his team.

The relief was perceptible on 68 minutes when the home side restored their two-goal lead. Kah brought down Ono in the area and penalty king Dirk Kuyt stroked home the spot kick to make it 3-1. The goal gave the home side the freedom to play out the last twenty more steadily. Thereafter Gibbs and Castelen both had chances to add a fourth, but their efforts went wide and over respectively. In the end it was left to Salomon Kalou to round off the scoring, skipping past half the visiting defence including keeper Kujovic, before slotting home.

Feyenoord 4–1 Roda JC
5´ 1-0 Ono
22´ 2-0 Castelen
47´ 2-1 Koné
68´ 3-1 Kuyt (pen)
84´ 4-1 Kalou

Feyenoord: Lodewijks; Östlund, Bahia, Gibbs, Basto; Castelen, Ono (84´ Pardo), Hofs (56´ Ghaly), Goor; Kuyt, Kalou.

Roda JC: Kujovic; Bodnar, Kah, Luijpers (46´ Bodor), Filipovic; Van Dijk, Senden, Sergio, Colinet (74´ Cristiano); Cissé, Koné.