Ten-man Feyenoord complete roaring comeback
Feyenoord showed resilience at Fortuna Sittard on Sunday, coming back from an early goal and a red card to take all three points in a 3-1 win. Conceding within 30 seconds, Feyenoord went down to ten men when Orkun Kökcü was sent off on 12 minutes. But two penalties from Steven Berghuis and a goal of the month contender from Marcos Senesi turned it around.
After seeing his side conceding first on five occasions already this season, Dick Advocaat will not have been happy to see it happen again against the Eredivisie stragglers. The game was barely 30 seconds old before Nick Marsman was picking the ball out of his net after being beaten by Zian Flemming’s diagonal drive. The home striker was given all the time in the world, as Feyenoord were caught cold.
The situation deteriorated further on 12 minutes, when Orkun Kökcü was shown a straight red for a challenge that referee Dennis Higler deemed excessive. Without the Turkish international Feyenoord were left facing with a tough task and it almost went from bad to worse. First Mats Seuntjes rattled the bar, then an Emil Hanssen cross caused panic stations, with two home forwards within inches of putting the ball in the net.
It was looking dire, but Feyenoord started to show signs of the form that had earned them a lossless start to the Eredivisie season. In spite of having a man less, the visitors began taking control. That said, it did take something special to get Feyenoord back on level terms. Marcos Senesi turned heads with a fabulous bicycle kick earlier in the campaign; this time the Argentinean scored with a bullet of a shot into the top corner on the half hour.
The goal fired Feyenoord up and they managed to grab the lead before the break. Higler awarded a penalty for a foul on Bryan Linssen and Steven Berghuis stepped up to net. That second goal allowed Feyenoord to play with a little more reserve in the second half. The ten men worked hard to deny the hosts any space and were scarcely threatened. And whenever there was a sniff of danger, Marsman was there to snuff it out.
Another penalty award late end enabled Feyenoord to extend their lead, with Berghuis picking himself up off the deck after being floored in the box to convert the spot kick himself. It meant the three points were safe, extending Feyenoord’s unbeaten run in the Eredivisie to an impressive 23 matches across this season and last.
With the midweek Europa League returning after a couple of weeks off, Feyenoord can now look forward to a busy period. First up is a trip to Russia, where CSKA Moscow provide the opposition. That’s followed by a home Eredivisie fixture against FC Utrecht at De Kuip next Sunday.
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