Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 2:08 PM• Guy Habets

The Hondsrug derby between FC Emmen and FC Groningen ended in a bloodless draw. Both teams failed to score and so the neighbor dispute ended as it started: 0-0. In the first half, Dick Lukkien’s formation should have done business, although the biggest chance of the game was for the visitors.

After FC Groningen’s 4-2 victory over PSV, trainer Frank Wormuth saw reason to change. For example, captain Joey Pelupessy returned to the team and Peter Leeuwenburgh was under the bar. That meant reserve roles for Luciano Valente and Jan de Boer, who kicked off last week. The latter in particular showed himself, but now Leeuwenburgh has to tolerate it again in the pecking order. At Emmen, Richairo Zivkovic and Keziah Veendorp were in the starting line-up with two players with a history at Groningen.

The Hondsrug derby was best started by Emmen. The home team enthusiastically attacked and, supported by a full Oude Meerdijk, got the first chances of the game via Mark Diemers and Ole Romeny. The biggest opportunity for halftime, however, was for Groningen and should have resulted in the opening goal. Cyril Ngonge only had to shoot the ball into an empty goal after a play from the right by Florian Krüger, but he failed miserably.

The level dropped noticeably after the break. Emmen was nowhere near the level of the first half and Groningen was not able to play much better than they already did, although the initiative increasingly came to lie with the team of trainer Frank Wormuth. However, the opportunities that were played were very scarce and in the end both teams seemed to find a point fine. Miguel Araujo was closest to a goal a minute before the end, but his header was nicely parried.