Ricky van Wolfswinkel opened the scoring after 22 minutes and Nana Asare added a second barely a minute later. Tim Matavz pulled one back five minutes before the break, but Andreas Granqvist put through his own net to deal Groningen a sucker punch in the last minute. Groningen looked dangerous early on, with Matavz impressing as he danced through the home defence and into the penalty area before shooting agonisingly wide. It was Utrecht, though, who opened the scoring - albeit in slightly controversial circumstances. Jacob Mulenga crossed from the left and Van Wolfswinkel, who appeared to be in an offside position, was able to slot the ball under the keeper from five yards. Within a minute, it was 2-0, as a cross from the right from Dries Mertens missed everyone and Asare arrived to smash the ball home from 15 yards. Groningen did not cave though and hauled themselves back into the match just before half-time. The Groningen defence failed to deal with a high, seemingly innocuous cross from Daley Blind, and Matavz got ahead of his marker to score. Asare came within inches of re-establishing his side's two-goal lead when his powerful strike after 70 minutes hit the underside of the bar. Utrecht did get a third in the last minute, though, as Granqvist stuck out a foot and inadvertently deflected Mertens' driven cross into his own net.
