Hard-fought victory over Fortuna
Published on 10 mei 21, 13:26ALKMAAR- A hard-fought victory for AZ this Saturday, as the boys in red had to defend their lead with ten men for over 40 minutes, but pulled through: 1-0.
A tough Saturday for AZ, that had to miss Teun Koopmeiners and Dani de Wit due to illness, and Myron Boadu because the striker wasn’t fit enough to start. Another setback followed soon, when Timo Letschert had to be replaced because he injured his ankle. Ramon Leeuwin came in his place.
From distance
During the first part of the game, AZ was dangerous a number of times, with Jesper Karlsson, Fredrik Midtsjø and Albert Gudmundsson trying from distance. The first two were easy targets for goalkeeper van Osch, the last one went wide. After a missed header from Calvin Stengs, Fortuna showed it’s first attacking intentions. Former AZ player Mats Seuntjens dribbled past Marco Bizot, but found the side of the goal.
Opportunity
AZ struggled to make life hard for the Fortuna defenders, but a penalty presented a great opportunity to take the lead. Karlsson got tackled by the Fortuna goalie and Albert Gudmundsson slotted it home neatly: 1-0.
Red card
Jansen’s squad played all but great and saw Fortuna drawing closer to Bizot’s goal. Just minutes after halftime, the AZ goalie made two crucial saves, to keep the lead. In the 49th minute, Leeuwin was sent off for a foul on breakaway striker Polter, which made the task even harder. Despite being a man down, AZ tried a couple of times, but without success. Fortuna tried but found Bizot every time and after surviving a number of precarious situations, AZ kept the points in Alkmaar: 1-0.
MATCH STATISTICS:
AZ - Fortuna Sittard 1-0 (1-0)
Eredivisie
Line-up AZ: Marco Bizot; Jonas Svensson, Timo Letschert (13. Ramon Leeuwin), Bruno Martins Indi, Owen Wijndal; Fredrik Midtsjø, Albert Gudmundsson, Jordy Clasie; Calvin Stengs (87. Jelle Duin), Zakaria Aboukhlal (61. Yukinari Sugawara), Jesper Karlsson (87. Tijjani Reijnders).
Line-up Fortuna Sittard: Yannick van Osch; Lazaros Rotha (70. Emil Hansson), Martin Yves Angha, Roel Janssen, George Cox; Tesfaldet Tekie (82. Dimitrios Emmanouilidis), Zian Flemming, Ben Rienstra; Lisandro Semedo, Sebastian Polter, Mats Seuntjens.
Goals: 29. Gudmundsson 1-0 (pen.).
Yellow cards: Aboukhlal, Bizot, Midtsjø (AZ), Van Osch (Fortuna Sittard).
Red cards: 49. Leeuwin (AZ).
Referee: Edwin van de Graaf.
Foto's: Ed van de Pol / www.edvandepol.nl