Fortuna books win on visit to Millwall
Fortuna ended its visit to Millwall winningly. Alen Halilovic and Tijjani Noslin provided the Sittard goals.
Fortuna left Friday with an almost fit squad heading for London, only Öguzhan Özyakup stayed behind sick in Sittard. Danny Buijs had reserved a starting place for Halilovic and Loreintz Rosier. On the Millwall side, former Fortunean Zian Flemming started on the bench.
The home side were the first to go in front of goal, although there were no major chances in the opening stages. On both sides beautiful combinations alternated with sloppy ball loss. With more than twenty minutes on the clock, it was Millwall that took the lead. Tom Bradshaw got the ball back from the back line and managed to work it into the far corner out of reach of Ivor Pandur.
Fortuna then went in search of the equalizer, with the biggest chance going to Rodrigo Guth. The defender headed from a corner kick out of the reach of goalkeeper George Long, but had to watch as Kevin Nisbet cleared the effort on the line. The equalizer came in injury time of the first half. Halilovic set up a one-two with Noslin and curled the ball delightfully into the far corner.
After halftime, the game went back and forth with chances for both teams. With more than 50 minutes on the clock, Millwall had the perfect opportunity to take the lead. Remy Vita brought down Duncan Watmore, after which referee James Bell pointed to the spot. Nisbet got behind the ball, but his effort was turned away by Pandur.
Just minutes later, Noslin had the perfect opportunity to take the lead. The Amsterdam native rounded goalkeeper Long, but as a result had to make an attempt from an awkward angle. The attempt eventually rolled past Millwall's goal. Noslin finally had a chance to get on the scoreboard after all, when he tried to wriggle between two defenders in the English penalty area. Noslin to the ground, the ball on the dot. From 11 yards, the striker missed, but the rebound was still worked behind Long.
Line-up: Pandur, Pinto, Guth, Siovas (62' Fofana), Vita (76' Belkheir), Rosier ('62 Radic), Ferati (90' Nieling), Halilovic (62' Dijks), Noslin (76' Robberechts), Gladon (37' Duarte) en Córdoba (84' Umaro).