Dutch League: Nigeria’s Calvin Bassey scores first goal as pro-footballer
Super Eagles defender, Calvin Bassey, scored his first-ever goal as a professional footballer for Dutch champions Ajax on Saturday.
Bassey scored Ajax’s second goal in the 4-2 defeat of hosts FC Volendam to move to the top of the Eredivisie on 22 points from nine games.
The former Glasgow Rangers left back moved to the Dutch Eredivisie side in summer and has proved a valuable addition.
Ajax recovered from their shock 6-1 defeat at Napoli last Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League group game to cruise to the summit of the Eredivisie.
Surprisingly, it was the hosts that first knocked on the door early in the game and saw two attempts saved by Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer in the first and fifth minutes respectively.
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Volendam defender, Derry John Murkin, gifted Ajax penalty when he handled the ball in the box. Referee Allard Lindhout wasted no time in pointing to the spot. Dusan Tadic scored the penalty to give Ajax the lead in the 17th minute.
With Ajax dominating the play, it was just a question of time for them to increase the tally. In the 39th minute, Bassey jumped highest to meet Steven Berghuis’ cross and found the back of the net with a bullet header that went into the bottom left corner to put Ajax 2-0 up going into the first half break.
The Dutch champions continue their dominance on resumption from the break with Bassey coming close to scoring once more in the 63rd minute.
Brian Brobbey’s 64th minute low effort ended up in the bottom right corner to put Ajax 3-0 clear.
Volendam however pulled one goal back in the 74th minute after a brilliant individual effort from Lequincio Zeefuik inside the Ajax penalty area found the back of the net to keep the scores at 3-1.
Midfielder Carel Eiting gave hope of a comeback to Volendam when he narrowed the scores to 3-2 in the 86th minute.