FC Groningen records their third win in a row against VVV Venlo. Once again a substitute shows northerners the way

The big question in the run-up to the match against VVV-Venlo was whether the FC Groningen patient had really recovered. Despite the clear upward trend in recent weeks, there were still some doubts about this.

The 2-1 victory against FC Eindhoven a week ago was partly due to the fact that the Brabanders (wrongly) had to continue with ten men for more than half an hour after a red card. And the 5-0 win at Jong AZ last week was undeniably a nice boost, but how highly should the battered promise team of the Alkmaarders actually be rated?

Tanked self-confidence

“We will show it again against VVV-Venlo,” coach Dick Lukkien responded somewhat testily on Thursday, but full of conviction when he was confronted with the question marks about his team. And yes, with the boosted self-confidence of the last few weeks, FC Groningen indeed got off to a good start in the cold Euroborg.

The assignment was clearly against the people of Venlo, so far no more than a mid-table team in the first division, just like the northerners. VVV was not allowed to build up. In the opening phase, the Groningen forwards flew at the Venlose defenders like flies on the ground. The ball possession obtained led to a few shots from the home club towards the enemy goal, including from Johan Hove, but it did not become really dangerous.

Messing around

The picture changed when it turned out that VVV occasionally managed to play football under the pressure of FC Groningen and the northerners themselves started messing around. It was the first time we scored when the Limburgers came close to goalkeeper Hidde Jurjus’ goal. The Groningers did not manage to defend properly and did not lose the ball. First it was Simon Janssen who shot and hit the post. On the rebound it was Michail Kosidis who scored the opening goal.

In the remainder of the first half, FC Groningen tried a few more times from a distance. Radinio Balker was close once, the same went for Romano Postema and Luciano Valente. One of the problems was that VVV had an excellent goalkeeper on goal, who knocked out a lot of balls. It was an old acquaintance too. Despite a one-off heroic role for FC Groningen in a 4-2 win against PSV, Jan de Boer never progressed beyond the status of third goalkeeper behind Michael Verrips and Peter Leeuwenburgh. He has nevertheless grown into a reliable fixture in Venlo.

Golden raid

Lukkien understood that something had to be done during the break. The trainer brought the not yet fully fit Laros Duarte for the disappointing Joey Pelupessy. It didn’t miss its effect. FC Groningen still took VVV-Venlo in an iron grip, looked reborn and proved that it could also rule against a first division opponent that was considered serious. In the beginning it mainly led to a number of blanks, the northerners still have one of the lowest shot conversions in the first division.

Twenty minutes before the end, Duarte showed his team the way and the midfielder once again emphasized that he should normally be part of Lukkien’s selection team. He scored the equalizer with a fantastic free kick from about twenty meters, which ended up in the top left corner. This did not satisfy Groningen’s hunger by any means. After Leandro Bacuna and Isak Määttä had also entered the team, it only took a few minutes before Jorg Schreuders curled the ball against the ropes. It was his second goal in a week. The victory was never in danger anymore, Jurjus was hardly given anything to do. FC Groningen seems to have finally started its upward trajectory.