Heerenveen were far from convincing but they managed to beat ten-man Excelsior 2-0 thanks to two goals in the last ten minutes.
- By Michael Bell
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It seemed Excelsior were going to hold Heerenveen to a draw, but after goalkeeper Joey Deckers conceded a penalty in the 82nd minute, goals from Maarten de Roon, and Sam Larsson handed the home side all three points.
Heerenveen, who were without Hakim Ziyech who joined Twente last week, started the match brightly, but were wasteful in front of goal, with striker Mark Uth guilty of several missed chances.
Excelsior came close to opening the scoring ten minutes before the break with Sander Fischer forcing Kristoffer Nordfeldt into a great save from a curling free kick.
After the break Heerenveen continued to dominate, but it wasn’t until Deckers brought down Luciano Slagveer in the box that they took the lead. With Excelsior making all three changes before Deckers saw red, midfielder Kevin Vermuelen was forced to go in goals, and he could do nothing about De Roon’s well placed penalty.
In the final minutes, Sam Larsson took advantage of the man advantage to race through on goal before sliding the ball past Vermuelen to seal the win.
Heerenveen claim their first victory of the season, while Excelsior taste defeat for the first time since returning to the Eredivisie.
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