Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 8:56 PM• Mart van Mourik

Fortuna Sittard booked an important victory in the Eredivisie on Saturday evening. On a visit to FC Groningen, the team of trainer Sjors Ultee narrowly won: 0-1. Dimitrios Siovas was the celebrated man on the Limburg side and provided the only goal of the match in the 82nd minute of play. It was the first victory in Groningen since 1987 for Fortuna, which occupies 16th place in the ranking with 19 points. The Groningers occupy eleventh position in the Eredivisie.

Trainer Danny Buijs had no surprises in store compared to the starting eleven who appeared at the kick-off in the won duel with Go Ahead Eagles (2-1). At Fortuna, Charlison Benschop made his debut in the starting lineup, while Roel Janssen returned to the starting lineup after staying on the bench for ninety minutes against sc Heerenveen (2-0). Groningen was the dominant party in the first company, although they did not succeed in translating the field dominance into an advantageous position on the scoreboard.

In the third minute of play, the home team had already created a threat twice. Michael de Leeuw, however, did not succeed in cashing in on the crosses of Bjorn Meijer and Tomas Suslov. Jörgen Strand Larsen also failed to give a pass tailored to Meijer halfway through the first half and came across goalkeeper Yanick van Osch. Fortuna created only one moment of danger in the first 45 minutes: on the stroke of the halftime signal, Mats Seuntjens fired a bullet at goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh’s fists.

After the resumption, the entertainment value increased considerably in the hitherto disappointing match. Although both teams escaped a goal on several occasions, the ban was only broken in the 82nd minute. A corner kick from the right was miserably handled by Cyril Ngonge, who handed the ball in on the edge of their own box. Via Ben Rienstra, the leather caromed in front of Siovas’ feet, whose push turned out to be untenable for Leeuwenburgh: 0-1. In the final phase, Groningen came very close to the equalizer, but also the closing post that came forward could no longer prevent a defeat.