PEC Zwolle remains unbeaten in 2022 by goal in minute 94


Sunday, February 20, 2022 at 2:12 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 14:44

FC Groningen let a victory over PEC Zwolle slip through their hands in extremis. The team of trainer Danny Buijs seemed to win 0-1 against PEC Zwolle on a rainy and windy Sunday afternoon, but in stoppage time defender Yuta Nakayama turned out to be the hero of Zwolle: 1-1. Laros Duarte brilliantly signed for his first goal in the shirt of the Pride of the North† The midfielder left PEC goalkeeper Kostas Lamprou completely without a chance with a beautiful free kick in the crossing in the first half. However, it was not enough for the full loot for Groningen.

For PEC, the counter in 2022 now stands at eleven points in five competition matches, with three wins and two draws. The relegation candidate also started the meeting with Groningen in the very wet Zwolle. A shot by Pelle Clement was cracked in the third minute and after more than fifteen minutes of play, Eliano Reijnders just failed to reach Oussama Darfalou after a smart run. On the other hand, Lamprou barely prevented Paulos Abraham from opening the score on behalf of the visitors in the 34th minute.

In the 36th minute, Lamprou still had to make it to the net. Duarte curled the ball beautifully over the wall of PEC in the left corner. The experienced goalkeeper of Greece could do nothing about the feat of the Groningen midfielder, who is finally off zero in terms of goals. PEC was unable to tie the score for the remainder of the first half. Groningen hit the post in the final minute via left back Bjorn Meier. Daishawn Redan could and should have brought the home team to 1-1 two minutes after the break. In a very promising position, however, the attacker was stopped by the alert Peter Leeuwenburgh, leaving only a corner for PEC.

Six minutes after the restart, Michael de Leeuw seemed to bring Groningen to 0-2. The visitors’ goal was disallowed shortly afterwards due to a foul by Jörgen Strand Larsen in the run-up to the goal. PEC could therefore continue to hope for a positive result at home. With fourteen minutes left on the clock, Redan was able to make up for his earlier miss. Only for the strongly playing Leeuwenburgh did the PEC attacker fail again and the equalizer did not come in the rebound either. With about five minutes left on the clock, a beautiful bicycle kick by Strand Larsen in the PEC penalty area ended up on the post. Helpless Lamprou rightly looked relieved.

Laros Duarte was ultimately not the match winner of FC Groningen.

In the final phase there was still a disturbance between players from both PEC and Groningen. Arbiter Jeroen Manschot eventually handed out cards to Strand Larsen and substitute Mustafa Saymak. In the final minute, a not very good free kick by Bart van Hintum disappeared into the wall of PEC, which eventually managed to avert a home defeat in the six minutes of injury time. In the added time, Saymake saw a free kick from a long way hit the post next to the hopeless Leeuwenburgh. The ball then rolled in front of the goal line and could be cleared. In the corner that followed, Nakayama, who had come up, headed the ball through the bottom of the crossbar. The joy among the players and fans of PEC was therefore very great. The people of Zwolle are equal with number seventeen Sparta Rotterdam with seventeen points, which did not play against Fortuna Sittard due to storm Eunice on Friday.

No. Team m W G V † Pnt
1 Ajax 23 18 3 2 65 57
2 PSV 22 16 1 5 26 49
3 Feyenoord 22 15 3 4 33 48
4 AZ 23 14 3 6 18 45
5 FC Twente 22 12 5 5 7 41
6 Vitesse 22 11 3 8 -9 36
7 FC Utrecht 22 10 5 7 10 35
8 NEC 23 8 7 8 -4 31
9 SC Cambuur 22 9 3 10 -9 30
10 Fc Groningen 23 6 8 9 -6 26
11 sc Heerenveen 22 7 4 11 -11 25
12 Heracles Almelo 23 6 5 12 -8 23
13 RKC Waalwijk 23 5 8 10 -12 23
14 Go Ahead Eagles 22 6 4 12 -16 22
15 William II 23 6 3 14 -21 21
16 Fortuna Sittard 22 5 4 13 -26 19
17 Sparta Rotterdam 22 3 8 11 -18 17
18 PEC Zwolle 23 4 5 14 -19 17