Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 8:36 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 20:37

Sparta Rotterdam did good business on Tuesday evening with a view to the ranking in the Eredivisie. Henk Fraser’s team was 0-1 too strong when visiting VVV-Venlo due to an own goal by Kristopher Da Graca twenty minutes before the end. The victory follows a series of eight games in which Sparta was unable to win. Remarkable was the substitution of Deroy Duarte, who came within the lines ten minutes before half-time and stayed behind in the dressing room at half-time. Sparta rises to twelfth place with the victory, while VVV remains fifteenth.

VVV had to do without top scorer Giorgos Giakoumakis for the second game in a row, who, just like against Feyenoord, was not found to be fit for the match. His replacement in the point of the attack, Jafar Arias, caused the first danger of the game after more than fifteen minutes of play. The attacker was served by Tobias Pachonik, but saw his effort narrowly blocked. In an otherwise not very uplifting first act, VVV was close to the equalizer ten minutes before half time, when Danny Post sent Yahcuroo Roemer deep on the right side of the field and Christos Donis then saw his shot blocked by Dirk Abels.

Sparta then had to deal with another blow before half time with the visibly agitated Adil Auassar dropping out. His replacement, Duarte, was left in the locker room ten minutes later after half time, limiting his substitution to just eleven minutes. In the second half, VVV took the initiative in the initial phase and Joshua John provided the first moment of excitement, when the striker pulled in from the left and lashed out with the right. Maduka Okoye, however, had a good view of the ball and managed to process the leather to the side.

On the other hand, it was hit twenty minutes before time. Lennart Thy won a sprint duel against Arjan Swinkels on the right and saw to his own surprise that defender Da Graca worked the ball unhappily behind his own goalkeeper: 0-1. VVV went on the hunt for the equalizer in the final phase and was given an opportunity, but saw how Okoye took a bet by Torino Hunte off the line with the utmost effort. Just before that, Jeffry Fortes hit the post on behalf of Sparta with a flaming shot.