Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 2:07 PM• Guy Habets

FC Utrecht has booked the third league win in a row. The home match against FC Groningen was, after a 0-1 deficit, converted into a win: 2-1. In the second half, the Domstedelingen turned the game around thanks to goals from the outstanding Taylor Booth and runner Sander van de Streek. Florian Krüger provided the rest with his first official goal for the Pride of the North before the opening goal.

The most notable absentee from the Galgenwaard Stadium was undoubtedly Paulos Abraham. The FC Groningen attacker was in the news last week because his dog would terrorize the neighbors and that led to threats against Abraham and his girlfriend. Groningen decided to send the attacker on holiday and started in Utrecht in a 5-3-2 formation. Trainer Frank Wormuth did this to be able to cope with the tactics of colleague Henk Fraser, the 4-4-2.

The Bunnikside and the well-stocked branch created a wonderful football atmosphere in Utrecht, but the players gave their fans no extra reason to cheer in the first half hour. The first danger was created by Groningen, which sought the way to the goal of the Domstedelingen through Ricardo Pepi and Mike te Wierik. The latter seemed to have a great chance, but it turned out that the situation was preceded by offside. After twenty minutes, Utrecht also reported more often to the enemy half. Tasos Douvikas was especially active, but the Greek did not convert his small chances into goals. Florian Krüger did just before halftime. The attacker was attentive and tapped a shot by Pepi, which would go wide, at the far post: 0-1.

With that score, halftime was reached and so it was up to Utrecht to change things up in the second act. That’s what Fraser’s men did. After fifteen minutes in which the home team increased the pressure, it was Taylor Booth who scored the deserved equalizer. The American juggled the defense of Groningen with the help of Sander van de Streek and also beat keeper Peter Leeuwenburgh for the 1-1, after which Utrecht and the fans smelled blood in the Galgenwaard.

The visitors were clearly about to break and Utrecht had to wait for the lead. With Bas Dost as a substitute for Douvikas, opportunities were sought in an opportunistic way and Amin Younes, who was also brought in by Fraser, was the one who got the biggest opportunity. However, he shot wildly over after a good play. The ball didn’t seem to fall well for the home team, until Van de Streek appeared for Leeuwenburg in minute 85. The attacking midfielder gave his foot to the ball after a cross from the right and made it 2-1 while sliding. That was it.