FC Utrecht achieved its first victory of the season on Friday. In a crazy duel with Fortuna Sittard, the Domstedelingen eventually came out on top: 3-4. Substitute Anastasios Douvikas was the big man at Utrecht: the Greek performed a hat trick. However, Douvikas’ performance was not the main topic of conversation on Friday: that was the misbehavior of supporters of both teams, forcing the game to be stopped several times.
Both the hosts and the visitors did not have a very good start to the competition. Utrecht collected two points in the four previous rounds; Fortuna was even still at zero. Interim coach Dominic Vergoossen was unable to use Oguzhan Özkayup in the hunt for the first points: the brand new acquisition was not yet part of the match selection. On the Utrecht side, Sean Klaiber and Amin Younes started on the bench.
Although the Domstedelingen had the better of the game in the initial phase, it was a long wait for great opportunities. Jens Toornstra came closest after almost half an hour of play: his free kick was defused in the short corner by Fortuna goalie Ivor Pandur. After that, the public really came off the banks. Othmane Boussaid had two good chances to open the score on two occasions, but George Cox saved Fortuna on the goal line.
Fortuna Sittard – FC Utrecht was temporarily shut down. From the branch, fireworks were thrown onto the field and towards the players who were warming up. FC Utrecht player Anastasios Douvikas was hit with fireworks from the FC Utrecht section. #forutr pic.twitter.com/rdQUTvavUH
— Soccer Ultras (@SoccerUltras) September 2, 2022
Just before the interruption, Burak Yilmaz seemed on the other side on his way to the 1-0. A push from Mark van der Maarel, however, was enough to unbalance the routine, defusing the attack and leaving the glasses stand on the board. The first high-profile moment after tea was nothing to write home about. Some of the Utrecht supporters who traveled with them threw fireworks on the field, as a result of which the game was stopped for a few minutes.
Fortuna seemed to do that well: the Limburgers almost reached the opening goal twice via Yilmaz and Tijani Noslin.
However, it fell on the other side. Toornstra had a wonderful pass to Bas Dost, who did not hesitate and shot behind the hopeless Pandur. With that, the striker signed for his fourth goal of the season. Before Utrecht could really enjoy the lead, Fortuna had already leveled the score. Mats Seuntjens put the ball on Rodrigo Guth’s head from a corner kick and the defender headed into the corner: 1-1.
It was again the visitors who took the lead via a questionable penalty kick. Mickaël Tirpan seemed to do little wrong with Boussaid, but referee Allard Lindhout pointed to the spot. Douvikas went behind the ball and finished flawlessly: 1-2. After that, the game had to be stopped again, as Fortuna supporters threw all kinds of objects on the field. It was uncertain for a long time whether the match would be completed at all, but referee Allard Lindhout gave the green light again a few minutes later.
The goals followed each other in rapid succession for the remainder of the game. First, Douvikas signed for his second, after which Yilmaz took care of the connecting goal from a penalty kick. The 2-4 still gave some shine to the evening. Toornstra launched the ball from the right towards the penalty area and saw it end up at Douvikas again via Dost. The striker took the leather on his knee and fired from behind Pandur with a beautiful half overhead. Douvikas even thought to make his fourth, but his apparent hit was rejected by the VAR. Noslin determined the final score in the sixth minute of injury time. for the victory, Utrecht comes after five rounds on the same number of points; Fortuna remains scoreless.
crazy! Hat-trick hero Anastasios Douvikas shoots @FC Utrecht brilliantly to a 3-4 victory in Sittard ??#forutr pic.twitter.com/hFSQdLzmYw
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) September 2, 2022
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSV | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 12 |
| 2 | Ajax | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | AZ | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| 6 | sc Heerenveen | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 7 | Excelsior | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 6 |
| 8 | NEC | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 | Fc Groningen | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -4 | 5 |
| 10 | FC Utrecht | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 5 |
| 11 | SC Cambuur | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Sparta Rotterdam | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4 |
| 13 | FC Emmen | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 4 |
| 14 | FC Volendam | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -8 | 4 |
| 15 | RKC Waalwijk | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
| 16 | Vitesse | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -9 | 1 |
| 17 | Go Ahead Eagles | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -7 | 0 |
| 18 | Fortuna Sittard | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | -9 | 0 |