Fortuna no match for NEC
Fortuna lost the away match against NEC Nijmegen 4-1. Fortuna played for a long time with one man less, Tijjani Noslin received a red card early in the match.
At Fortuna, the not yet fully recovered Dimitrios Siovas started on the bench, his place in the center of defense was again taken by Sadik Fofana. Mitchel Dijks was not included in the selection due to injury, Siemen Voet was his replacement at left back.
In the opening stages, chances were scarce. The home club could have taken the lead after just under twenty minutes of play through Elayis Tavsan. After a mistake in the build-up by Fortuna he was put in position, with an extreme effort Fofana prevented a goal. A few minutes later, Noslin was shown a red card by referee Edwin de Graaf, on the advice of VAR. The striker had gone too hard on Calvin Verdonk, was the verdict.
Alen Halilovic's ball loss nine minutes later gave the Nijmegen side the lead. The midfielder, who had just gone close to scoring with a fine long-range shot, lost the ball in the build-up. Magnus Mattsson got hold of the ball and beat Ivor Pandur with an unstoppable shot: 1-0. Two setbacks in quick succession for the guests. Fortuna hoped to go into halftime with a limited deficit, but in injury time of the first half NEC doubled the score. After a long-running attack, Koki Ogawa was able to give the decisive push: 2-0.
Soon after halftime, the numerical proportions of the field were restored. Mees Hoedemakers went hard on Arianit Ferati, again the referee was called to the side by VAR. The red card was a logical consequence of the foul. Fortuna struggled to create chances, however, the first ball between the posts was a direct hit. Kaj Sierhuis shot beautifully from the edge of the penalty area: 2-1.
The fierce fans in the away box cheered, suddenly there was perspective for a result for Fortuna again. Barely 100 seconds later, however, it was the home crowd's turn to cheer again, after an individual from Sontje Hansen, Mattsson scored his second goal of the evening: 3-1. Five minutes in, it was Hansen himself who accounted for the fourth goal and set the final score at 4-1.
Line-up: Pandur, Pinto, Guth, Fofana (76’ Robberechts), Voet, Duarte (81’ Rosier), Ferati (81’ Griffith), Halilovic (46’ Oratmangoen), Noslin, Sierhuis, Córdoba (76’ Özyakup)