The first chances of the season were for Fortuna Sittard, but as the first half progressed, Go Ahead Eagles showed more and more why the cup won last season, resulting in the first goal after half an hour of playing. Richonell Margaret was released in the penalty area and tried to reach Mathis Suray with a pass. Shawn Adewoye thought to prevent that, but slid the ball of Pardoes his own goal.
Fortuna needed to pick up, but turned on again in the final phase of the first half. After Joris Kramer had already removed a ball just before the line, the home team came to the same height in the injury time. After heading back from Paul Gladon, it was Philip Brittijn who completed with the right.
Red card Calvin Twigt
Fortuna happily continued that line after the break. Already in the first minute of the second half, Jari De Busser prevented the goal from Dimitris Limnios with a handsome reflex. Not much later, Calvin Twigt received a red card because of a hard tackle on Kristoffer Peterson. Rob Dieperink initially gave yellow, but the VAR called him to the sidelines, after which he rezag his opinion. Fortuna then put the dozen from Deventer a phase long with its back against the wall, but scoring turned out to be difficult.
Eventually the final offensive gave reason to cheer in Sittard. Substitute Luka Tunjic finished beautifully after a good walking action with a pass from fellow invader Makan Aiko. Only it wasn’t done yet. Go Ahead showed resilience via Gerrit Nauber, who still took care of the equalizer from a corner.