Vitesse Arnhem hammered Feyenoord 4-1 at De Kuip to keep three teams in the race for third spot, and an automatic Europa League place.

feyvit ggfgfggggMost of the league positions in the Eredivisie are already decided, but the race for third place is wide open, with only five points separating 5th placed Vitesse and Feyenoord in 3rd going into the game at De Kuip,

A win for Feyenoord would have sealed their place in the Europa League next season, but from the start they were second best to Vitesse, with Kenneth Vermeer having to make a great stop early on to deny Valeri Qazaishvili. However the goalkeeper could do nothing on 13 minutes when Qazaishvili curled an excellent 25-yard strike into the net to give the visitors a deserved lead.

Just after the half hour mark Sven van Beek gifted Vitesse a second goal as the defender’s attempted clearance dropped into the patch of Jan-Arie van der Heijden, who slotted past an onrushing Vermeer.

On 38 minutes Jens Toornstra brilliantly trapped a cross in the box before jinking past his marker and sending a strike into the top corner to pull one back for Feyenoord, but two minutes before the break Rochdi Achenteh smashed in Vitesse’s third on the rebound after Vermeer parried Zakaria Labyad’s free kick.

Feyenoord looked for a way back into the game in the second half, with referee Bjorn Kuipers failing to give a penalty kick to the home, side whilst also disallowing a Colin Kazim Richards header for a foul. However Vitesse continued to create chances, especially through the wasteful Bertrand Traore, and in injury time they added a fourth goal through Labyad who raced onto a ball over the top before finishing calmly.

Despite the defeat Feyenoord are still in pole position in third, but should they slip up against PEC Zwolle on the last day of the season, either AZ Alkmaar or Vitesse could overtake them.




admin (14221 Posts)

Follow @Footballoranje_ on Twitter