Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 10:02 PM

The Twente derby between Heracles Almelo and FC Twente did not yield a winner on Saturday evening. Heracles quickly found himself with ten men in his own Erve Asito due to a red card from Anas Ouahim, but took the lead through a nice counter. Twente came alongside in Almelo via a direct free kick by Gijs Smal. Heracles came out of the dressing room better after the tea and had the best chances with one man less, but, just like the guests from Enschede, was unable to score: 1-1.

Heracles seemed to take the lead after about ten minutes when Sinan Bakis worked a cross from Giacomo Quagliata into the goal from the bottom of the bar. However, the Turk turned out to be offside at the time of play. After fifteen minutes Heracles had to continue with ten men. Ouahim torpedoed Dmitrios Limnios with a hard tackle to his ankle. Referee Sander van der Eijk addressed the German attacker of Heracles, after which he wanted to resume the game. However, on the advice of Laurens Gerrits – the VAR on duty – the leader stopped the game and again assessed the situation on the sidelines. This time, Van der Eijk concluded that the foul deserved a red card and sent Ouahim off the field.

Twente seemed to quickly take advantage of the surplus situation when Ricky van Wolfswinkel worked the rebound on a free kick by Virgil Misidjan. However, the VAR again called on Van der Eijk to come to the sidelines, after which he concluded that goalkeeper Koen Bucker already had the ball clamped and it was therefore a violation by Van Wolfswinkel. On the other hand, Heracles’ dozen surprisingly did score a goal. The team of trainer Frank Wormuth quickly came out on the counter with Emil Hansson, who gave a good pass to the incoming Noah Fadiga. The right-back did not hesitate and outwitted Lars Unnerstall. Twente came alongside in the injury time of the first half. Smal scored after a foul by Fadiga on Misidjan for a free kick, which he promoted to goal with a dry bang in the left corner.

Just before the halftime signal, Julio Plegezuelo seemed to curiously pass his own goalkeeper with a header, but he was able to correct the mistake himself just in time. Heracles came out of the dressing room strong after the interruption and almost took the lead again via Bakis. However, the striker aimed just wide of a pass from Quagliata. Moments later, the Italian left-back got into scoring position himself on a pass from Hansson, but couldn’t find the target. Twente tried it on the other side with a long shot from substitute Mees Hilgers, which, however, was a prey for Bucker. With one man more, the Tukkers could barely make a fist against Heracles offensively, so they had to settle for a point.