The scoreline may suggest otherwise but Heerenveen eased to victory over Excelsior at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Friday night. The final score was 2-1 to the hosts.
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The two clubs went into the game level on points in the table but on Friday night there was only one team in the game as Heerenveen dominated from the start.
Henk Veerman, in for the injured Mitchell Te Vrede, was denied twice by Tom Muyters early on before the deadlock was eventually broken by Kenny Otigba on 22 minutes. A corner kick was not cleared by the Excelsior defence and when Veerman headed across goal Otigba fired in from close range.
Shortly after the opener Jerry st Juste struck the post with a strike from just inside the box, while Sam Larsson, Luciano Slagveer and Morten Thorsby all saw chances denied by Muyters in the Excelsior goal.
The deserved second goal finally came on 55 minutes in unfortunate circumstances for Muyters, as Larsson’s shot from range bounced over the goalkeepers arm and into the net.
Excelsior never threatened a comeback but they did get on the score-sheet in the last minute when they were awarded a penalty, which was netted by Jeff Stans.
The win lifts Heerenveen up to tenth in the table, while Excelsior remain 12th.
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