Groningen suffer collapse at hands of AZ

FC Groningen surged into a two-goal lead at home to AZ but came spectacularly unstuck in the second half, going down 4-2 in this afternoon's Eredivisie clash at the Euroborg Stadium.

The hosts opened the scoring when Tjaronn Chery's effort in the eighth minute struck Steven Berghuis and went into the AZ net.

Groningen then doubled their lead just after the half-hour mark, Maikel Kieftenbeld forcing a save from Esteban Alvarado before Michael de Leeuw converted the rebound.

The fightback for AZ began on the stroke of half time when Nemanja Gudelj's cross was rifled home by Berghuis, who became the first player in the Dutch league to score at both ends in a single match.

Gudelj was then involved in his side's equalising goal, his headed flick-on into the box being given the final touch by Jeffrey Gouweleeuw.

From then on it was all AZ, who surged into the lead just after the hour through Markus Henriksen's well-placed strike.

And the visitors then completed a remarkable turnaround by notching up a fourth goal, as Henriksen stormed into the box before looping the ball over the Groningen goalkeeper.