AZ win against 10-man Fortuna Sittard and maintain perfect record after early red card

AZ beat Fortuna Sittard 2-0 in Alkmaar after the home side went down to ten men early on, but Fortuna still made life difficult for long spells. The breakthrough did not come until after the hour mark.

Fortuna made a dreadful start. Ole Romeny saw red in the fourth minute for a foul on Matteo Chávez, leaving the Limburg side a man down almost immediately. The Indonesian striker planted his studs on the inside of the Mexican full-back's lower leg.

Even with the extra man, AZ struggled in the opening stages against Danny Buijs' stubborn Fortuna side. Mexx Meerdink still had a huge chance to break the deadlock. After a short passing move through Fortuna's compact defence, the striker looked to have a simple finish, but his tame effort failed to beat Matthijs Branderhorst.

From there, it was one-way traffic. AZ controlled the game and Fortuna could barely get a foothold. Yet the yellow-and-green back line remained hard to break down. Up front, Lequincio Zeefuik had to keep wrestling with long balls and wait for support as he was left isolated.

Shortly after the break, Branderhorst denied Jizz Hornkamp as well. Calvin Stengs had come on by then and found his striker, who could not force the ball home.

Just before the hour, Stengs and Hornkamp finally combined for the opener. After a slick move, Stengs was picked out and struck the post from a difficult angle. Hornkamp reacted quickest to the rebound and made it 1-0.

That goal forced Fortuna's ten men to push up and left more space for the home side. Buijs' team made better use of those gaps and did not just retreat. Mohamed Ihattaren suddenly found himself one-on-one with Jari De Busser, who had come a long way off his line. The attacker rounded the goalkeeper, but then lifted the ball over the empty net.

Then, with the last kick of the match, Hornkamp struck again. He turned in a low cross from Stengs from close range for 0-2. After three rounds of fixtures, Leeroy Echteld's side have the maximum nine points.