Go Ahead Eagles rue missed chances against Groningen
De Adelaarshorst crackled on Saturday night, but the scoreboard told a flatter story. Go Ahead Eagles 1, FC Groningen 1. One point each, two very different emotions.
Groningen walked away exhausted, grateful. Go Ahead walked away angry with themselves.
Willumsson stuns Deventer
For half an hour, Go Ahead pushed and probed, the better side by some distance. They moved the ball quickly, snapped into duels, pinned Groningen back. The visitors hardly crossed halfway with conviction.
Then Brynjólfur Willumsson changed everything.
Almost out of nowhere, the forward found space on the edge of the box and unleashed a fierce drive. The ball rocketed past Kjetil Haug before the goalkeeper could react. 0-1. Against the run of play, and De Adelaarshorst fell briefly silent.
The goal forced Go Ahead to chase the game while Groningen retreated deeper, content to defend their lead. Joseph Oosting’s team kept coming, and Søren Tengstedt carried the main threat. The striker thought he had his moment with a clever lob, only for Etienne Vaessen to read it perfectly and claw the ball away with an excellent save.
The pattern was set: Go Ahead attacking in waves, Groningen hanging on.
Tengstedt strikes back
After the interval, the pressure only grew. Go Ahead turned the screw again, with chances falling to Thibo Baeten and Stefan Ingi Sigurdarson. Groningen bent but did not break, bodies constantly thrown in front of shots as the minutes ticked by.
The resistance finally snapped in the 82nd minute.
A sharp move through the middle sliced open the Groningen back line, and this time Tengstedt did not hesitate. He stepped onto the ball and hammered it past Vaessen for 1-1. De Adelaarshorst erupted, and with it came another milestone: Tengstedt’s fifth goal of the season, enough to make him the Eredivisie’s current top scorer.
The equaliser felt inevitable. For Groningen, it felt like a dam bursting.
Agony for Sigurdarson
Go Ahead smelled blood. A point no longer interested them.
They poured forward, the tempo rising again as Groningen clung on with what little energy they had left. Then came the moment that will haunt the home side.
The ball broke kindly for Sigurdarson in front of an open goal. The comeback, the perfect turnaround, sat there waiting to be finished. The stadium held its breath.
He slid it wide.
No deflection, no heroic block. Just a huge chance, gone. Sigurdarson dropped to the turf, disbelief written all over his face. Around him, teammates stared at the goal as if trying to rewrite what they had just seen.
The final whistle followed soon after. 1-1. On paper, a fair split. On the pitch, it felt anything but.
Groningen had nothing more to give and escaped with a point. Go Ahead had done almost everything right, created enough to win twice, and still walked off with that sour taste that lingers long after the lights go out.
