FC Groningen missed the chance to move to within a point of the Eredivisie summit as they went down 1-0 at Roda JC tonight.

Arnaud Sutchuin-Djoum scored the only goal of the game in the 40th minute as Roda claimed their first win in six matches.

The result kept Groningen in third place, behind PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente, and moved sixth-placed Roda to within two points of their opponents.

The hosts were quickly in the ascendancy and Jimmy Hempte's cross from the right gave Sutchuin-Djoum a shooting chance 12 yards out, but his effort was comfortably held by Luciano in the visitors' goal.

Mads Junker then fired over with his left foot from Ruud Vormer's accurate ball into the area as Roda continued to threaten.

And the pressure paid off five minutes before the break as Sutchuin-Djoum's shot from a central position eight yards out took a nick off Groningen's Andreas Granqvist before finding the bottom left corner of the net.

The home side's dominance continued in the second half, Anouar Hadouir shooting narrowly over the top before Vormer missed a golden chance to double their lead.

Sutchuin-Djoum's through-ball down the right channel picked out the run of Vormer, but he shot just wide of the near post when well-placed.

It was not until the 84th minute that Groningen offered anything of note, Tim Matavz's drilled effort from 20 yards going wide of the right post, but an equaliser would have been entirely undeserved.