FC Emmen finally won again in the Eredivisie on Saturday thanks to a goal by Richairo Zivkovic. The striker made the only goal of the game (0-1) on a visit to Fortuna Sittard, making Dick Lukkien’s team victorious for the first time since August 20. Later in the evening, Milan van Ewijk crowned himself match winner at sc Heerenveen, which won 0-1 at Excelsior.
Emmen was too strong for FC Utrecht at the time, after which they failed to win nine times in a row in the Eredivisie. In between, the amateurs of ADO’20 were barely settled in the first round of the KNVB Cup.
On Saturday evening against Fortuna, Zivkovic crowned himself the match winner with a goal in the 58th minute. It was his first Eredivisie goal since 14 May 2017, when he scored against AZ on behalf of FC Utrecht. That is 2,001 days ago, although the 26-year-old attacker has only played abroad in recent seasons with the Chinese clubs Changchun Yatai and Guangzhou R&F, the Belgian KV Oostende, the English Sheffield United and the Serbian Red Star.
Due to the victory, Emmen rises from seventeenth to sixteenth place, while Fortuna occupies fourteenth place with two points more.
Eredivisie-speelronde 12
- Vrijdag: Cambuur-NEC 0-1
- Zaterdag Vitesse-Sparta 0-4
- Zaterdag: Fortuna-Emmen 0-1
- Zaterdag: Excelsior-Heerenveen 0-1
- Zondag 12.15 uur: Utrecht-Groningen
- Zondag 14.30 uur: Volendam-Feyenoord
- Zondag 14.30 uur: Twente-Go Ahead
- Zondag 16.45 uur: Ajax-PSV
- Zondag 16.45 uur: RKC-AZ
Fortuna misses suspended Yilmaz
Fortuna had to do it against Fortuna without the suspended striker Burak Yilmaz, who was replaced by Paul Gladon. Trainer Julio Velázquez made three more changes after the 3-1 defeat at Sparta. Rodrigo Guth, Dogan Erdogan and Úmaro Embaló played instead of Dimitris Siovas, Arianit Ferati and Tijjani Noslin.
Little happened in Sittard in the first half. Shortly before halftime, Zivkovic had a great chance, but Emmen’s striker shot over.
Zivkovic was successful after the break. In the 58th minute, the former Ajax player shot the ball with the left into the far corner and goalkeeper Ivor Pandur was allowed to blame. In the final phase Fortuna insisted and also had the necessary opportunities, but they were not taken. Zivkovic also missed a great opportunity and so it remained 0-1.
Two goals disallowed at Excelsior-Heerenveen
Heerenveen against Excelsior was a duel with two disallowed goals, but Milan van Ewijk’s goal in the 58th minute did not stop and it remained 0-1 in the Van Donge & De Roo Stadium.
Although Excelsior and Heerenveen wanted to show something after defeats last week against Go Ahead Eagles and FC Utrecht respectively, there was little to notice in the first half. Both teams had trouble speeding up the game, made mistakes and were never able to test keepers Stijn van Gassel and Andries Noppert.
After the break, Heerenveen needed little time to put Van Gassel to work. The goalkeeper kept Tibor Halilovic and Van Ewijk from scoring, but had no chance with Van Ewijk’s second chance. The 22-year-old back checked a wide pass from Pawel Bochniewicz, cut in from the wing and pulled hard between three men, 0-1.
Heerenveen then saw a goal by Bochniewicz disallowed, after which a line went through a goal by Excelsior substitute Couhaib Driouech. Marouan Azarkan was still close to the equalizer on behalf of the home team, but his effort went just wide of Noppert’s goal, who will hear in six days whether he belongs to national coach Louis van Gaal’s final World Cup selection. Due to the victory, Heerenveen climbs to seventh place in the ranking, while Excelsior is twelfth.
Stand bovenin de Eredivisie
- 1. Ajax 11-28 (+28)
- 2. PSV 12-27 (+22)
- 3. AZ 12-26 (+10)
- 4. FC Twente 12-25 (+15)
- 5. Feyenoord 11-24 (+15)
- 6. Sparta 13-23 (+9)
- 7. Heerenveen 13-20 (+2)
