Saturday, November 22nd
FC Volendam - FC Twente: 1-1
FC Volendam stayed unbeaten for the third time in four league outings as FC Twente were held to a 1-1 draw.
After a slow first fifteen minutes, Henk Veerman and Sondre Orjasater combined for two massive chances as the game approached the twentieth minute. The Volendam striker and Twente star could not open the scoring, however. Daan Rots, Marko Pjaca, and Thomas van den Belt all came close for Twente, as well, but failed to put Twente up one before the half.
Orjasaeter and Rots eventually combined for a deserved Twente lead, with the latter capping off a good move by the Norwegian winger with an easy finish in the 48th minute.
Twente kept up the pressure via Van den Belt, but were eventually left to rue their missed chances as Robert Muhren headed Volendam to a point in his 250th appearance for the club.
Heracles Almelo - Go Ahead Eagles: 4-2
Heracles Almelo booked another big win in the Eredivisie to make it three from three since Bas Sibum's sacking, this time beating Europa League outfit Go Ahead Eagles 4-2 in Almelo.
Heracles captain Damon Mirani put the hosts in front after just ten minutes, but saw his side head into the break with a deficit after Mathis Suray and Milan Smit found the net in the final fifteen minutes of the opening half.
Mirani took his team by the hand and got Heracles another, tying it back up right before Jizz Hornkamp scored his fourth goal in three league games to restore Heracles' lead.
After the Eagles lost Indonesian international Dean James to a second yellow card, Luka Kulenovic added a goal to his two-assist performance in the dying seconds, handing Heracles a sensational third-straight win following the dismissal of manager Bas Sibum.
Sparta Rotterdam - Fortuna Sittard: 1-1
Fortuna Sittard won a point away from home for the first time since September 14th, holding Sparta Rotterdam to a 1-1 draw at Het Kasteel.
Norwegian midfielder Joshua Kitolano opened the scoring for Sparta in the final ten minutes of the first half, heading home from close range. Fortuna striker Kaj Sierhuis returned the favour in the 56th minute, putting the ball in Sparta's net from a similar spot as Kitolano and thus putting the final score on the board.
NAC Breda - PSV: 0-1
Guus Til made the difference in a closely contested North Brabant derby between NAC Breda and PSV. To read all about PSV's narrow win in Breda, check out our full match report.
Ajax - Excelsior: 1-2
Excelsior booked one of the most famous wins in club history when Ajax were beaten 2-1 in the Johan Cruyff ArenA, courtesy of a Noah Naujoks double. To read everything about Excelsior's shocking win, check out our full match report here.
Sunday, November 23rd
Feyenoord - NEC: 2-4
In another shocking result, NEC Nijmegen toppled Feyenoord 4-2 in Rotterdam to claim their first win in De Kuip since November 2011.
Feyenoord, who trailed league leaders PSV by three points heading into the weekend, had the upper hand in the opening half hour, but couldn't cash in on their dominance after Sem Steijn, Anis Hadj Moussa, Gijs Smal, and especially Ayase Ueda missed opportunities to hurt NEC early.
After Steijn missed an open chance by a foot, the visitors profited from Feyenoord's early wastefulness via Bryan Linssen, who tapped the ball in the net as all of Feyenoord's defence, goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther included, were unsuccessfully signalling for a handball.
Both sides came close to another goal in the first half, were it not for Wellenreuther stopping a powerful shot from Tjaronn Chery and Feyenoord's Tsuyoshi Watanabe hitting the crossbar on the brink of halftime.
Tjaronn Chery and Tsuyoshi Watanabe, who hit the crossbar during added time, both came close to scoring the game's second goal, which Leo Sauer eventually did. After the initial chance went to waste, the Slovakian wonderkid headed home from Hadj Moussa's cross to level the game in the final seconds of the first half.
The hosts took their first lead of the day in the 56th minute, when right-back Bart Nieuwkoop beat Gonzalo Crettaz at his near post after a clever pass from Hadj Moussa.
It took NEC fewer than fifteen minutes to come up with a perfect reply - Noe Lebreton headed a cross from the excellently playing Basar Onal past Wellenreuther. The Turkish-Dutch Onal forced a brilliant save out of Wellenreuther before whipping in another delightful cross, which found the head of substitute Kento Shiogai and ended up in Feyenoord's net.
With Feyenoord pushing for a late equaliser, NEC escaped from the pressure and saw Kento Shiogai strike gold in the first minute of added time as the Japanese forward hit home from the centre circle to put a sensational game to bed. NEC's win earned PSV a commanding six-point lead at the top.
sc Heerenveen - AZ: 3-1
A pair of top-quality goals earned Heerenveen a 3-1 win over AZ as the Frisian outfit booked their first league win in over a month.
Surinamese international Dylan Vente opened the scoring on behalf of the hosts after a fantastic team move, which was orchestrated by Joris van Overeem and finished by Vente in front of an open goal. Van Overeem himself was the final stop of another solid team goal, giving Heerenveen a deserved 2-0 lead before halftime.
After Jacob Trenskow nearly put Heerenveen up three right before the break after a superb dribble from Maxence Rivera, Ringo Meerveld became the second Heerenveen star to hit the woodwork after another beautiful move ended with the midfielder hitting the post.
Irish hero Troy Parrott got one back for AZ, but was trumped by Heerenveen captain Luuk Brouwers' rocket from distance, which ended up in Jeroen Zoet's top corner and put the final score on the board in Heerenveen.
Telstar - FC Utrecht: 1-1
A late Houdini act earned FC Utrecht a hard-fought point away from home, keeping promoted outfit Telstar to a 1-1 draw in Velsen-Zuid.
An unremarkable first half was followed by a strike from distance from Soufiane Hetli, who broke open the game in the 56th minute. After Patrick Brouwer was left disappointed after a cancelled goal, Can Bozdogan saved a late point for FC Utrecht with a miracle strike from distance in the 93rd minute.
FC Groningen - PEC Zwolle: 2-2
FC Groningen and PEC Zwolle fought out an entertaining game at the Euroborg, sharing the points after a late Thom van Bergen put the final score at 2-2.
FC Groningen loanee Thijs Oosting opened the scoring for PEC Zwolle in the eleventh minute to give the visitors a strong lead in a snowy Euroborg. Dutch U21 international Thom van Bergen levelled the game eight minutes before halftime with a strong finish on his weaker left foot.
Sherel Floranus, who was part of Curacao's miracle team that clinched a World Cup ticket last week, enjoyed his week even more after scoring his first Eredivisie goal since 2021, earning Olivier Aertssen his second assist of the afternoon.
A second-straight win following the devastating 8-2 loss in Almelo wasn't to be, however, as Thom van Bergen headed home from close range to win Groningen a point in the 90th minute.
