Fortuna Sittard won the relegation smasher against Sparta Rotterdam 3-0 and thus took important points in the battle for self-preservation in the Eredivisie.
At halftime, the team from Sittard led 2-0 thanks to goals from Mats Seuntjens and Paul Gladon. Gladon scored the third goal for the Fortunezen well into the second half
Attack
The Eredivisionist from Sittard was aware of the importance of the match and attacked from the start signal from referee Serdar Gözübüyük. The attacking drive of the Fortunezen resulted in three corner kicks and a free kick for Mats Seuntjens in the initial phase, which was cleared by the Sparta defence.
Free kick
After more than ten minutes Fortuna got a free kick on the edge of the sixteen. Mats Seuntjens shot the ball past the wall in the bottom right corner, giving Fortuna the lead. The Spartans only got their first chance a few minutes later, but the ball was headed over Yanick van Osch’s goal from a corner. The visitors came into the game better and created danger in the Fortuna sixteen through the freestanding Adrian Dalmau, but Dimitrions Siovas intervened and cleared the ball.
Gladon doubles lead
Ten minutes before half time, Fortuna made it 2-0 when Paul Gladon headed the ball from a cross by Zian Flemming into Maduka Okoye’s goal. It was his first goal in the service of the yellow-greens. Fortuna kept attacking and got the chance to increase the lead when Flemming fired on Sparta’s goal from a great distance and the Rotterdam goalkeeper was just able to tap the ball over the back line.
Connecting hit rejected
On the stroke of half-time, Sparta seemed to score the connecting goal when Bart Vriends converted a free kick, but the VAR intervened and disallowed the goal, as a result of which an energetic Fortuna ended the first half with a 2-0 lead.
Second half
Shortly after the restart, Sparta was allowed to take a free kick in a dangerous place, but the shot went high over the goal. Fortuna briefly lagged behind, but recovered. An attack by Tesfaldet Tekie and Tijjani Noslin just missed Mats Seuntjens. Sparta was on the ball a lot, but Lennart Thy was also unable to cause any danger in the penalty area. After an hour of play, Fortuna got three corners in a row, but that was not a danger, except for a header by Zian Flemming. A corner kick by Seuntjens a short time later disappeared far from the far post over the back line.
Corners
With a quarter of the game to play, coach Henk Fraser replaced Adil Auassar for Tommie Beugelsdijk in an attempt to turn the tide. That substitution didn’t have much effect because Fortuna kept attacking. A shot by Tesfaldet Tekie was worked over the back line by a Sparta defender and Tiijani Noslin also got the chance to score, but a Spartan prevented a goal from Sittard.
loot inside
With more than ten minutes to play, the spoils were in when Paul Gladon worked the ball against the ropes from a corner. Fortuna was leading 3-0 and the crowd was on the benches in Sittard. In the final minutes, goalkeeper Van Osch defused an attempt by Lennart Thy. Substitute Samy Baghdadi scored in injury time, but his goal was disallowed for offside
Beautiful football evening
Fortuna knew it had to beat Sparta and gave the supporters a wonderful football evening with the 3-0 victory. Fortuna now has 26 points with the win and is in safe 15th place. Sjors Ultee’s team has three points ahead of PEC Zwolle and Willem II and four points on Sparta, which still has to complete the game against Vitesse.