Honours even at Venlo

Honours even at Venlo

FC Groningen picked up just their second point of the season with an entertaining 2-2 draw at VVV Venlo.

All the goals game in a hectic first 20 minutes, with the hosts taking the lead through Keisuke Honda after five minutes before Nicklas Pedersen (14) and Andreas Granqvist (15) turned the match around.

Sandro Calabro levelled things up after 20 minutes, after which the game settled down and neither side could find a winner.

The match was only five minutes old when Honda's 20-yard free-kick found the top-left corner, giving Groningen goalkeeper Luciano da Silva no chance.

Nine minutes later, VVV's Frank van Kouwen lost possession and allowed the visitors to counter-attack. Goran Lovre's cross from the right found Pedersen, who made no mistake with his right-footed finish.

Barely 60 seconds later and Groningen were ahead, Granqvist heading home Sepp de Roover's cross.

The action swiftly shifted back to the other end, where Calabro met Achmed Ahahaoui's corner and headed into the top-left corner.

Groningen almost went ahead for a second time in the 26th minute when Pedersen intercepted a pass from VVV goalkeeper Dennis Gentenaar but he was only able to shoot wide.

Granqvist had another chance for the visitors 11 minutes after the break but headed Mike Zonneveld's free-kick into the keeper's

hands.

Captain Koen van de Laak was next to try his luck when he found himself free on the edge of the VVV penalty area. But he saw his right-footed shot tipped over by Gentenaar as the game petered out into a draw.