EREDIVISIE: Feyenoord 4-0 FC Groningen |

SUNDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2014

FEYENOORD 4 – 0 FC GRONINGEN

Feyenoord score four as they dominate 10-man Groningen. The sending off of Johan Kappelhof at 1-0 left Groningen with an uphill task and they were put to the sword by a very good Feyenoord forward line writes Ryan O’Grady.

Feyenoord and Groningen were both coming into this game off the back of two consecutive wins with Feyenoord perhaps showing that they are starting to recover from a difficult start to season in which they were knocked out of Champions’ League qualifying and the KNVB Beker. In their last two games they beat Go Ahead Eagles 4-0 in the Eredivisie, after losing to them in the cup, and Elvis Manu scored a late goal to secure victory against Standard Liege in the Europa League. Groningen won their cup game 4-1 against Topklasse (3rd Division) side Barendrecht and last weekend beat Willem II 1-0 at home in the league.

It was relatively quiet opening twenty minutes to start the game, the only events of note were a Jens Toornstra free-kick that was cleared by Maikel Kieftenbeld and a booking for Kappelhof, something that would be even more significant later. It all began in earnest in the 20th minute when Colin Kazim-Richards retrieved the ball inside the box before spinning and managing to get a shot away that was well saved by Sergio Padt. The rebound fell to Jordy Clasie and with Padt still on the floor he pretty much had an open goal to aim at but skied it badly from about 10 yards out. Feyenoord then got themselves ahead only 3 minutes later when Kazim-Richards played a lovely one-two on the edge of the box with Lex Immers before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner of the net. They had a chance to double their lead in the 30th minute when Kappelhof got his clearance badly wrong and the ball went out for a corner which Terence Kongolo subsequently headed just wide.

Elvis Manu then joined in the action in the 36th minute when he cut in from the left hand side and was in an extremely dangerous position but put his effort well over Padt’s bar. This was followed by a Feyenoord penalty claim when Toornstra appeared to be tripped by Danny Hoesen just inside the box but the referee Tom van Sichem wasn’t having it and gave the goal kick after the ball had rolled out of play.

The second half started with a kerfuffle when a corner from Groningen came in and there was a scramble in the box before Vermeer managed to grab it but as he was grabbing it Eric Botteghin swung for the ball and accidentally caught Vermeer in the face. He immediately tried to apologise but the Feyenoord players weren’t and a minor ruckus was started. The referee ended up booking Botteghin. As mentioned earlier Kappelhof was booked in the first half and in the 56th minute he picked up his second yellow and was sent off leaving coach Erwin van de Looi with 10 men and made it even tougher for his side to try and get back into the game. Midfielder Nick van der Velden was brought off for defender Roland Baas as a result. Groningen paid for the sending off almost immediately as in the 57th minute Lex Immers scored a wonderful header. Karim El Ahmadi ran down the right before delivering a ball into the centre of the box that Immers ran onto from the left hand side and headed it back the way it came leaving Padt with no chance. The Dutch attacking midfielder then had another good headed chance in the 65th minute when another sublime cross, this time from Australian Luke Wilkshire, found its way to Immers who this time could only head it past the post.

Manu then had a one-on-one with the keeper and he tried to put it through the keeper’s legs but the keeper was able to close his legs just in time and deflect it away from goal. Substitute Jean-Paul Boëtius made it 3-0 soon after in the 83rd minute when yet another brilliant cross from Wilkshire found another substitute in Mitchell te Vrede who his header was brilliantly saved by Padt but the ball flew straight up and Boëtius came in and headed home from close range. Te Vrede did manage to get himself on the scoresheet 5 minutes when a lovely chipped cross from Lex Immers found the bug Dutchmen unmarked in the 6 yard box and this time he didn’t Padt a chance.