Fortuna reverses deficit and remains unbeaten

Fortuna immediately took the initiative in the match, but in the first half hour there were few real goal attempts. That changed in the last fifteen minutes before halftime. After a corner kick from the right side by star player Alen Halilovic, the birthday boy Dimitrios Siovas subtly hit the ball with the outside of his foot. The leather splattered on the crossbar, in the rebound Volendam defender Benaissa Benamar prevented with his upper body a sure-footed goal by Kaj Sierhuis. 

A header by Rodrigo Guth moments later was a prey for Volendam goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, the goalkeeper of the guests also parried a shot by Halilovic again extremely cleverly. It seemed a matter of time before Fortuna would take the lead, however, things turned out differently. From the edge of the penalty area, Garang Kuol curled the ball impeccably into the top right corner: 0-1. A lead that did absolutely no justice to the proportions on the pitch.

Fortuna did not look disconcerted and continued to go on the attack. Just before halftime Mitchell Dijks went down in the Volendam penalty area, after an intervention by defender Damon Mirani. Referee Kamphuis, however, wanted to know nothing about a penalty kick and was supported by VAR.

Quickly in the second half, Volendam goalkeeper Backhaus had to act again. Within seconds the goalie had excellent saves on Iñigo Córdoba and Halilovic. The more than deserved equalizer came after almost an hour of play. Substitute Öguzhan Özyakup sought to combine with Halilovic, ran through cleverly and got the ball beautifully played to him by the Croatian midfielder. Özyakup remained cool and scored in a controlled manner: 1-1.

The Fortuna supporters got even more behind their team, it was clear that there was more in it for the home club. Seven minutes after the equalizer, the lead was a fact for Fortuna. The indefatigable Córdoba discovered his direct opponent on the left wing and served Tijjani Noslin with a nice cross. With his head, the quick winger caused another explosion of joy in the stadium: 2-1.

The game was played, Volendam was unable to become really dangerous. Halilovic had set his sights on his first official goal for Fortuna, and just before time he got his reward. The Man of the Match was played in at the deep end by Ivo Pinto, the midfielder controlled the ball with his beautiful technique without any problems, got rid of two opponents and deposited the ball in the bottom left corner: 3-1. Moments later he received his more than deserved crowd change.

Line-up: Pandur, Pinto, Guth, Siovas, Dijks (86’ Vita), Duarte, Rosier (54’ Özyakup) , Halilovic (90’ Oratmangoen), Noslin (86’ Lazetic) , Sierhuis (54’ Belkheir), Córdoba.