Go Ahead Eagles Miss Late Chance as Groningen Escapes with Draw
Go Ahead Eagles left ruing late miss as Groningen escape De Adelaarshorst with a point
The scoreboard said 1-1. The mood inside De Adelaarshorst told a very different story.
Go Ahead Eagles clawed their way back into the game through Søren Tengstedt’s late strike, only to watch victory slip away when Stefan Ingi Sigurdarson missed a golden chance at the death. Groningen, exhausted and hanging on, escaped with a point they had spent most of the evening defending.
Groningen strike against the flow
From the opening whistle, Go Ahead pushed Groningen back. The hosts moved the ball with intent, snapped into challenges, and forced the visitors deeper and deeper. The pattern was clear: Eagles on the front foot, Groningen waiting for a moment.
That moment came out of nowhere.
Brynjólfur Willumsson picked up the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a fierce drive. His shot flew past Kjetil Haug and crashed into the net. 0-1. A stunning finish, and brutally against the run of play.
The goal flipped the script. Groningen retreated even further, protecting the lead, while Go Ahead were suddenly chasing a game they had largely controlled.
Tengstedt leads the charge
If anyone looked capable of dragging the home side back into it, it was Tengstedt. The forward constantly found pockets of space and carried a threat every time he touched the ball.
He thought he had his reward with a clever lob, reading Etienne Vaessen’s positioning perfectly and lifting the ball over the Groningen keeper. The home fans were already half celebrating when Vaessen stretched and clawed it away with an excellent save.
Go Ahead kept coming. Groningen kept bending, but not quite breaking.
After the interval, Joseph Oosting’s team turned the screw again. Thibo Baeten found himself with a sight of goal. Sigurdarson also had a chance as the pressure mounted. Groningen, though, continued to survive, defending deep and relying on last-ditch interventions and sheer resilience.
Top scorer delivers, then drama
The resistance finally cracked in the 82nd minute.
A sharp move through the heart of the Groningen defence sliced them open, and this time Tengstedt made no mistake. He met the ball with conviction and hammered it past Vaessen for 1-1. De Adelaarshorst erupted.
It was Tengstedt’s fifth goal of the season, enough to make him the Eredivisie’s current top scorer. On this evidence, that status is no accident.
The equaliser didn’t calm Go Ahead. It ignited them. Smelling blood, they surged forward again, refusing to settle for a point.
Then came the moment that will haunt them.
A low ball across goal, Groningen’s back line in pieces, and Sigurdarson arriving with the winner at his feet. Vaessen was beaten. The goal was gaping. Somehow, the striker slid his effort wide of the post.
The stadium froze. Heads went into hands. On the Groningen bench, there was only relief.
Sour draw for Eagles, relief for Groningen
When the final whistle went, both teams had a point. Only one side looked remotely satisfied.
Go Ahead had dominated large spells, created the clearer chances and watched their in-form striker keep his scoring run alive. Yet the memory that will linger is Sigurdarson’s miss, a season-defining opportunity that slipped away in a split second.
Groningen, drained and stretched, had nothing more to give. They survived. Go Ahead will feel they let them off the hook — and in a tight Eredivisie campaign, nights like this can come back to bite.
