It was a difficult followingnoon for TOP Oss in the battle in and once morest Groningen. It was not the fault of the effort, but that was not enough to take a point or more points to Oss. FC Groningen proved to be too strong and dominated the match many times. The home team of head coach Dick Lukkien created many chances, but often found a TOP Oss defender or goalkeeper Mike Havekotte in his way.
In the first half, FC Groningen gained the upper hand and often put pressure on TOP Oss’ goal. TOP Oss tried to fight for the first 45 minutes, but barely managed to become dangerous in front of FC Groningen’s goal. A shot from striker Delano Ladan ended up in the hands of the Groningen keeper, but otherwise Ruud Brood’s team failed to create any real danger. There was a starting place for winter newcomer Karim Loukili, who tried to provide an attacking threat as a left winger. However, it was FC Groningen that took a 1-0 lead just before half time. After a rejected corner, Johan Hove managed to shoot the ball through a crowd of players behind goalkeeper Mike Havekotte.
After halftime, FC Groningen continued to increase the pressure and even received a penalty following clumsy defensive work by attacker Joshua Zimmerman. An excellent save by Havekotte on Groningen captain Leandro Bacuna’s penalty kept TOP Oss in the match. Unfortunately, the score was 2-0 for the home team following just five minutes: Luciano Valente shot the ball out of reach of our keeper.
Despite some opportunities for FC Groningen, TOP Oss managed to limit the damage. Ultimately, FC Groningen went further ahead, with Kristian Lien pushing the ball past the TOP goalkeeper following a cross from Rui Mendes, making the final score 3-0.
Although the result was disappointing for TOP Oss, the team continued to play football. In the second half, TOP Oss midfielder Sven Zitman was given some more minutes to get into rhythm following his injuries and NEC mercenary Selim Can Sönmez made his debut. This included looking ahead to TOP Oss’ home match once morest Jong Ajax next Friday evening.
We kick off on Friday, February 16 at 8:00 PM in the Frans Heesen Stadium.
