AZ Alkmaar are up to 3rd after a 3-2 win over Willem II in the AFAS Stadion in a thrilling game on Saturday evening. 

The in-form hosts began the game brightly but in the 25th minute, it was Willem II that took the lead through Ben Rienstra, who is on loan at the club from AZ. The midfielder stole the ball in the middle before starting a move which ended with him heading past Marco Bizot.

Ten minutes later, Wout Weghorst was brought to the ground by Jordens Peters to earn AZ a penalty which Alireza Jahanbakhsh slotted in to level the score.

After the break, AZ were by far the better team and deservedly took the lead in the 54th minute as Weghorst flicked the ball into the path of Guus Til, who fired in his third goal in two games. Ten minutes later, Weghorst got the goal his performance deserved as he raced onto an Alireza through ball before lifting the ball over Mattijs Branderhorst and into the net to make it 3-1.

Dabney Dos Santos then missed a huge chance to put the game to bed as his close-range effort deflected off Branderhorst and hit the bar before falling on the line and to safety.

Willem II pulled one back in the 85th minute through Ismail Azzaoui and seconds later Weghorst was shown his second yellow card for handball to reduce AZ to ten men. The end was tense for the hosts but they held on for the victory which moves them into third while Willem II remain 16th.




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