Willem II did excellent business on Saturday evening with a view to the ranking. Fred Grim’s team came out surprisingly fresh against FC Groningen and triumphed 2-1. For the Groningers it was the fourth game in a row without a win, while Willem II managed to achieve two home victories in a row for the first time in a year. Thanks to the victory, the Tilburgers settle more firmly in the top of the Eredivisie and are pretty fourth. Groningen has to settle for place ten.
Willem II, who saw Timon Wellenreuther return under the bar, has an excellent start to the season under Fred Grim and managed to remain unbeaten in the last three games. The team also did not concede a single goal in those duels, a series that was last put down by the Tilburg team almost two years ago. The home team also started against Groningen, after Kwasi Wriedt found the net after only five minutes of play. The striker took advantage of a good ball conquest from Dries Saddiki and was able to finish easily from close range: 1-0.
Willem II was much brighter than Groningen in the first act and managed to express the dominance in the field in a second goal. Again the Wriedt – Saddiki combination was worth gold for Grim’s team, this time the latter being the finisher. The midfielder saw his effort changed and partly as a result, he rolled behind goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh. Groningen did very little in the first half and only became dangerous via Jörgen Strand Larsen. The striker reacted attentively when Wellenreuther had to release a free kick, but was not sharp enough in the completion.
Also in the initial phase of the second half, the chances were few for both teams, after which Danny Buijs brought in three fresh forces after half an hour of play. With Michael de Leeuw and Paulos Abraham, among others, the visitors increased the pressure, which led to the connection goal after an hour of play. Tomás Suslov took advantage of Wellenreuther’s poor goalkeeping and saw his shot go in. Groningen then insisted on hunting for the equalizer and, among other things, got an imposed chance through Abraham, but the Swede saw his shot blocked by Saddiki.