Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 11:01 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:03

NEC booked a comfortable 1-3 win against Fortuna Sittard on Saturday evening. Jonathan Okita was the celebrated man among the people of Nijmegen. The attacker was good for the opening goal and then provided the assist for goals from Elayis Tavsan and Jordy Bruijn; Mats Seuntjens scored the honorary goal on behalf of the home team. Due to the victory, NEC rises to ninth place in the ranking, while Fortuna does not get away from the bottom regions with a seventeenth place.

Sjors Ultee had hoped that he could have Zian Flemming again against NEC, but this turned out not to be feasible in the end. Mickaël Tirpan also had to miss the duel with the Nijmegen team. With the visitors, trainer Rogier Meijer could not rely on the talented Dirk Proper. The first chance came after fifteen minutes of play for the visitors. Bruijn had a free shooting chance, but a fine save by goalkeeper Yanick van Osch kept the home team going. Five minutes later, however, it was still hit. Bart van Rooij crossed, after which Okita was able to slide in uncovered from about eight meters: 0-1.

NEC wanted to push through immediately after the opening goal. Tavsan found Souffian El Karouani, who shot just wide from close range. Halfway through the first half, the Nijmegen team managed to double the margin. Bruijn passed the ball to Okita, who passed Tavsan in one go. The striker came face to face with Van Osch and scored in a controlled manner: 0-2. With half an hour on the clock Fortuna came back into the game via Seuntjens. The striker shot the ball from close range through an upper leg on the arm of Iván Márquez. Referee Jeroen Manschot then pointed to the spot. Seuntjens himself went behind the ball and remained cool-blooded from eleven meters: 1-2.

Fortuna thought again of a penalty kick immediately after the break, but Manschot did not want to hear anything this time. Fifteen minutes later it was on the other side. Magnus Mattsson handed over to the best player Okita, who, after an individual action, served Bruijn tailor-made. The midfielder came in well for his man and headed in from close range: 1-3. The Limburgers saw the match slowly but surely slip out of their hands after the third goal. Ultee tried to change the game with a few substitutions, but failed. NEC preyed on another goal and set up another fine attack after seventy minutes. Okita yielded to Tavsan, who then served Mattsson. The latter, however, mowed over the ball.