Go Ahead Eagles concluded the first leg of the two-legged match with SK Brann with a draw. At the Adelaarshorst, the evenly matched duel in the second preliminary round of the Conference League ended in 0-0. The return is on Thursday 1 August in Norway.

Coach Paul Simonis had no surprises in store for his debut. Jeffrey de Lange defended the goal of Go Ahead. The goalie saw four defenders in front of him with Mats Deijl, Jamal Amofa, Joris Kramer and Dean James.

The midfield was formed by Evert Linthorst, Enric Llansana and Bobby Adekanye, while the forward line consisted of Søren Tengstedt, Jakob Breum and Victor Edvardsen. Tengstedt struggled with minor hamstring problems during this preparation and was therefore unable to play a full match.

In the tenth minute of play, Go Ahead almost fell behind. Brann played his way through the Go Ahead defense on the right. Niklas Castro then pulled the trigger, but goalkeeper De Lange reacted alertly to the attempt.

Then three big chances arose for the team from Deventer. After fifteen minutes of play Adekanye had an excellent action in his home in he served Tengstedt, although the latter failed to give the ball enough power.

A few minutes later, Adekanye himself had a great chance. He was played in on the outside of the box, after which he turned away but then shot just wide. His attempt from the penalty spot in the 36th minute of play also went just wide.

After a lackluster second half, things almost went wrong for Go Ahead Eagles in the final phase. Llansana pulled the emergency brake just outside their own penalty area and brought Joachim Soltvedt to the ground, after which referee Denys Shurman gave a straight red card. The shot that followed from the free kick ended up in the wall.

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