Wout Weghorst recovered from two penalty misses to net a double as AZ Alkmaar beat Sparta Rotterdam 2-0.
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The visitors, who welcomed Alireza Jahanbakhsh back into the starting line-up after injury, dominated from the start with the Iranian winger particularly dangerous, but Wout Weghorst and Guus Til missed good chances.
On 21 minutes, AZ were awarded a penalty for a foul on Thomas Ouwejan. Weghorst’s spot kick was saved by Roy Kortsmit but he was deemed to have stepped over his line to quickly and the penalty was forced to be retaken. However, Kortsmit once again dived the right way to push away Weghorst’s strike and Sparta incredibly stayed level.
Ten minutes later, Marko Vejinovic’s clever corner was met by Weghorst who swept the ball past Kortsmit to make up for his penalty woes and put AZ ahead. The striker then doubled the lead on the hour mark, latching onto Jahanbakhsh’s lay-off before firing a low strike past Kortsmit.
Ragner Ache thought he had pulled one back for the hosts but his effort was ruled out for offside. The young striker then drew two saves from Marco Bizot before the end as AZ saw out the victory.
AZ move joint top of the table with Feyenoord while Sparta remain 12th.
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