In an exciting tie at the Euroborg, FC Twente booked their first victory of the campaign after a 3-1 win at nine-man Groningen.
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Both sides went into the game with a good feeling after Groningen defeated Emmen last weekend, while FC Twente held PSV Eindhoven to a draw.
Groningen started brightly and got two chances through Kaj Sierhuis early on but the striker could not finish them off.
After a clumsy tackle by Ko Itakura on Aitor Cantalapiedra in the 15th minute, FC Twente were awarded a penalty. However, Aitor’s spot-kick hit the bar. Twelve minutes later, Groningen were awarded a penalty when Paul Verhaegh fouled Gabriel Gudmundsson. Sierhuis stepped up but his poor penalty down the middle was saved by Joel Drommel.
Things then turned sour for the home side as Ramon Pascal Lundqvist was shown a straight red card in the 40th minute for a kick-out on Javier Espinosa. A few minutes later, Groningen were reduced to nine men when Mike te Wierik also saw red.
The home crowd’s anger was evident and a supporter even got on the field before being calmed down by Sergio Padt.
After the break, FC Twente unsurprisingly took the lead in the 55th minute through a Keito Nakamura free-kick. With twenty minutes left, Twente were awarded another spot-kick after contact by Azor Matusiwa on Aitor. This time the Spaniard made no mistake with his penalty to make it 2-0.
With five minutes to go, Ritsu Doan pulled one back for the hosts but Haris Vuckik killed any chance of a comeback deep into injury time.
Twente now have four points after two games while Groningen remains on three.
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