Fortuna Sittard Win 3-2 at Groningen Despite Having Just Two Shots on Target

The Result

FC Groningen 2-3 Fortuna Sittard. Eredivisie. Friday 28 August 2026. That is the scoreline. Five goals, four yellow cards per side, an own goal, and a VAR check in the final ten minutes. It was not a clean game. It was not a well-managed game. But it was a game, and Fortuna Sittard took three points they were not certain of earning for most of the ninety minutes.

The Basics Were Not There From Groningen

Let me tell you what I saw. Fortuna Sittard had 68 per cent possession. They attempted 23 shots to Groningen's nine. They put 45 crosses into the box. They had 98 dangerous attacks to Groningen's 16. By every measure of territorial dominance, Fortuna Sittard were the better side. And yet they finished with two shots on target. Two. You cannot dress that up as controlled, dominant football. The thing is, when you create that much and convert that little, you are inviting trouble. Groningen stayed in the match precisely because Fortuna Sittard were wasteful.

Groningen, for their part, could not compete with the ball. Thirty-two per cent possession. Two hundred and eighty passes. They were being asked to defend for long stretches, and for a long time they did it. Twelve interceptions. Ten tackles. They worked. They had desire. But desire without the basics in defensive shape is not enough. End of.

How the Goals Fell

Mohamed Ihattaren put Fortuna Sittard ahead at the 12th minute with a left-foot shot, assisted by Lequincio Zeefuik. It was a clean finish and it set the tone for what looked like it might be a comfortable away win given how much Fortuna Sittard were controlling the ball. Groningen were already pinned back.

David van der Werff levelled for Groningen at 19 minutes with a right-foot shot, Jorg Schreuders with the assist. Fair play. Groningen were down and they responded immediately. That kind of attitude matters. It told you this team was not going to fold quietly.

Lequincio Zeefuik then put Fortuna Sittard back ahead at the 28th minute, again through a right-foot shot, with Edouard Michut assisting. So at half-time it was 1-2 to Fortuna Sittard, which felt correct given the balance of territory. But the margin should have been larger given what Fortuna Sittard had in terms of attacking volume.

The second half changed things. Anthony Descotte equalised for Groningen at the 72nd minute with a right-foot shot, Edouard Michut again with the assist. Groningen had fought their way back into a game that, if you looked at any other number on the sheet, they had no right to be in. That is not an insult. That is credit where it is due.

Then came the 87th minute. Justin Hubner put the ball into his own net. Groningen's own defender settled the match for the away side. Hubner had already picked up a yellow card in the 69th minute. Adding an own goal to that evening is the kind of night you want to forget. It was not a lack of desire. It was not a lack of effort. It was a basic error at the worst possible moment. That is what cost Groningen.

The Discipline Problem

Four yellow cards for Groningen. Rodrigo Guth was booked in the fourth minute for a foul, which tells you everything about how that defensive shape started. Justin Hubner followed in the 69th minute. Lequincio Zeefuik picked one up in the 88th minute for an argument. Edouard Michut was booked for time-wasting in added time. That last one is particularly unacceptable. If your standards are so low that you are booked for time-wasting in a game you are losing, something is badly wrong with the attitude in that squad.

Fortuna Sittard were not much better. Jacob Ondrejka was booked in the 65th minute, one minute after coming on as a substitute, which takes real commitment to poor decision-making. Etienne Vaessen picked up a yellow in the 88th minute for an argument. Travis Hernes was booked deep in added time for a foul. Three bookings for the away side in the final minutes of a game they were winning. Accountability. Both squads need a conversation about it.

What the Numbers Tell You

Listen, the shot numbers are extraordinary. Fortuna Sittard had 23 total shots and only two on target. Groningen had nine total shots and five on target. Five. Groningen were more accurate with the ball in front of goal despite spending most of the match without it. That is the strange truth of this game. The side that created less was more clinical. The side that created more was wasteful enough to let a game slip into chaos.

Fortuna Sittard put in 45 crosses and landed eight accurately. That is a lot of work for limited return. Groningen attempted zero accurate crosses. Zero. That tells you how deep they were sitting and how limited their options were going forward. They were not built to dominate this game. They were built to absorb and hit. It almost worked.

The Groningen Context

Fortuna Sittard came into this match having won two and lost two in their last five Eredivisie matches. They had beaten SC Cambuur 3-1 and drawn with PSV Eindhoven 2-2. Losing to AZ Alkmaar 0-2 five days before this fixture mirrored Groningen's week. Both sides arrived here low on confidence. One of them left with three points. The other left with a lesson.

The Bottom Line

Fortuna Sittard did enough to win. They did not do it cleanly or convincingly. They needed a mistake in the 87th minute to get there. But they competed, they kept pressing, and they took the result. That is all that matters in a results business. Groningen showed desire. They showed character to equalise twice in this game. But standards at the back are unacceptable right now. You cannot gift the winning goal to the opposition and call it hard luck. That is a basics problem. And basics problems do not fix themselves.