Jong AZ showed their teeth early on against De Graafschap, running out 5-2 winners in the Eerste Divisie's second round at De Vijverberg. The visitors took the lead through J. Oerip in the eleventh minute, then held firm when De Graafschap's D. Warmerdam equalised just before the half-hour mark. To be fair, the home side's response was textbook, but the visitors had already set the tempo and they kept it.
Things shifted after the break when B. Kovacs converted a penalty for Jong AZ in the fifty-second minute, and De Graafschap's R. Robbemond pulled another one back almost exactly twenty minutes later. By then the match had turned into something different — a game where momentum mattered more than possession. B. van Zijl restored the visitors' advantage in the eighty-fourth minute before A. Oufkir wrapped it up with two late goals, the first in the eighty-seventh and the second in stoppage time.
De Graafschap controlled 57 per cent of the ball and registered 91 attacks, yet their shot accuracy sat at a mere 23 per cent. They found the target five times from fifteen attempts inside the penalty area, while Jong AZ managed 42 per cent accuracy from ten shots on target. The visitors were more clinical, and that price has gone for the hosts who couldn't convert their dominance into goals.
Both sides collected five yellow cards between them, though De Graafschap had to deal with a red card for B. Kovacs in the eighty-sixth minute — a substitution that doubled as a sending-off. The hosts made three changes at half-time, bringing on A. Natali, M. Sin and D. Eijken, while Jong AZ introduced N. Ahmeti and J. Hardeman later in the second half. De Graafschap swapped H. de Wit and S. De Grand for two of their own in the seventy-fifth minute.
The result leaves De Graafschap rooted at the bottom with just one point from five games, while Jong AZ move up to thirteenth with six points from their opening slate. The home side's recent form hasn't been kind — they've lost four of their last five across all competitions — and this result doesn't exactly sweeten the pill. Jong AZ, meanwhile, have shown they can take points on the road, something that might matter when the season truly gets going.