Sparta Rotterdam 1-1 FC Utrecht
Soccernet.com
ROTTERDAM, April 13 (Eredivisie) - Sparta Rotterdam and FC Utrecht both had to settle for a point in an eventful Dutch Eredivisie draw on Friday.
Darryl Roberts opened the scoring for Sparta after 25 minutes but substitute Leroy George equalised for Utrecht midway through the second half.
Sparta secured a point despite the late sending-off of Danny Schenkel.
Roberts threatened after just three minutes for Sparta, but Michel Vorm saved well in the Utrecht goal
Next, Michael Krohn-Dehli's free-kick found the head of Edwin van Bueren, but it went over.
Sparta took the lead when Rachid Bouaouzan found Roberts who beat his marker before scoring from inside the area.
Utrecht tried to rally and after 28 minutes, Van Bueren had to be quick to prevent Utrecht's Loic Loval getting off a shot before the ball was cleared.
Then Utrecht's Joost Broerse was not far off the mark with a free-kick which hit the wall, with Gregoor van Dijk blazing the rebound wide.
The first real chance after the break fell to Utrecht's George, who was foiled by goalkeeper Harald Wapenaar.
Bouaouzan fired over for Sparta after 55 minutes, but at the other end Utrecht nearly got back on terms only for Van Dijk's free-kick to rattle the post.
Sparta could have killed the game when Haris Medunjanin freed Roberts, but it was an easy save for Vorm.
The equaliser came after 69 minutes as George found the mark with a header from close range.
With 10 minutes to go, Roberts missed another chance for Sparta, but then at the other end Hans Somers spurned an even better opportunity.
Sparta were reduced to 10 men when Schenkel got his red card for a foul on Tom Caluwe and the Rotterdammers were fortunate to escape in stoppage time.
Utrecht's Van Dijk and Peter Kopteff worked the ball to Tim Cornelisse whose header was wide of the mark.