FC Volendam has encountered an unprecedented problem on a visit to Fortuna Sittard. In South Limburg, the Volendam team was already 2-0 behind at halftime and it was ten men after a red card from Bilal Ould-Chikh. Due to the defeat, Volendam has been surpassed by Fortuna and holds The New Orange the penultimate place in the Premier League.
A minute of silence was held before the match in Sittard because of the stadium riots in Indonesia, which killed more than a hundred people. Although the game in the south started early, Fortuna Sittard seemed the most awake. The home team took the initiative with an attacking start without becoming really dangerous. In the switch FC Volendam got the first opportunities through Derry John Murkin and Bilal Ould-Chikh.
The 400 Volendam supporters who traveled along, with a free ticketwere heard loudly. They mainly saw their team showing sloppiness on the ball. That led to a huge opportunity for Burak Yilmaz halfway through the first half. Rapid exit of Filip Stankovic prevented the Turkish super striker from creating a scoring chance. A minute later, left back George Cox simply trumped his opponent Bilal Ould-Chikh and then fired wildly from outside the box.
Goal against and red
At the moment that Fortuna Sittard’s attacking drive went down and Volendam was calmer on the ball, the team of trainer Wim Jonk did get the goal against. Right winger Úmaro Embaló, taken over from Benfica, shot a falling ball perfectly into the intersection in the 33rd minute: 1-0.
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And four minutes later it got even worse for Volendam. Bilal Ould-Chikh kicked Cox hard on the knee and immediately received a red card after the intervention of the VAR. The visitors longed for the break and saw Murkin almost working the ball behind his own goalkeeper. To make matters worse, Oğuzhan Özyakup made it 2-0 after 44 minutes from a cross from the right.
cannon fodder
At halftime Henk Veerman was brought within the lines, but Volendam still had to walk back a lot with ten men. The visitors were given chance after chance and saw Yilmaz pass goalkeeper Stankovic and shoot the post. On the other hand, Robert Mühren had the perfect opportunity to score the connection goal, but the striker shot up against the outgoing Fortuna keeper Ivor Pandov. That was just a single rebound in the second half.
Volendam, on the other hand, really had to be careful that it didn’t run into an ear wash. In the 66th minute Fortuna Sittard hit the woodwork again via Inigo Córdoba, who was stabbed by Yilmaz. The malaise seemed to get worse for the visitors in the final phase after a foul by Murkin. Referee Dennis Higler first gave a penalty, but that was reversed by VAR. As a result, it remained 2-0 in Sittard.
FC Volendam sees Fortuna Sittard jump past in the rankings due to the defeat and drop to seventeenth place. Next Saturday (kick-off 4.30 pm) national champion Ajax will visit the fishing village.
FC Volendam line-up: Stankovic; Plat, Benamar (W. Ould-Chikh/60), Mbuyamba, Murkin; Mirani, Eiting, Oristanio, Van Mieghem (Veerman/46), Mühren (Zeefuik/72), B. Ould-Chikh