FC Groningen booked the first victory of the season on Sunday afternoon. The team of trainer Danny Buijs seemed to be heading for a draw at SC Cambuur for a long time, but completed the sentence in injury time thanks to a world goal from Jörgen Strand Larsen. The substitute striker from Groningen scored from a bicycle kick in the top right corner: 1-2. Before the game, there was an impressive minute of silence for the deceased Jergé Hoefdraad, who was under contract with the Leeuwarders for two seasons in the past.
At FC Groningen there was a basic place for Michael de Leeuw, who was the first striker to come out of the preparation. The attacker who came over from FC Emmen was therefore preferred by Buijs over Romano Postema and Strand Larsen. In addition, goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh made his official debut on behalf of the visitors, just like Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Cyril Ngonge. At Cambuur, the striker position was filled by Sam Hendriks, who is thus keeping Tom Boere behind him for the time being. Trainer Henk de Jong kept his championship team from last season almost intact.
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In a little uplifting first half, Groningen had a slight dominance in the field. The Buijs team got the initiative from Cambuur, without creating too many chances. A shot by Tomás Suslov could be caught by Sonny Stevens and an attempt by De Leeuw also failed. After more than half an hour of play, the spell was broken by the visitors. After a turning corner from Suslov, El Messaoudi enjoyed all the freedom to hit the back of the field. Hendriks tried to get the ball off the line with the utmost effort, but was unable to do so.
After the break there was much more to enjoy. There was little left of Groningen’s dominance in the field in the first half and Cambuur also attacked brutally. After ten minutes of play in the second half, Issa Kallon seemed to level the score. The winger came in from the left and looked for the top right corner, but found Leeuwenburgh in his way with a brilliant save. De Jong gave Boere his debut not much later and equalized ten minutes later. After good preparatory work by Jamie Jacobs who also came in, it was a breeze for Maulun to push the ball in from close range: 1-1.
When the game then appeared to be heading for a draw, Groningen still took off with the full loot. After an opportunistic long ball, Strand Larsen came to the rescue. The substitute struggled to control at first, but then found himself in a hopeless situation with a brilliant overhead kick in the top right corner. Stevens had no answer to the feat and had to bend deep into injury time.