Despite being reduced to ten men in the first-half, Vitesse Arnhem defeated PEC Zwolle 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Bryan Linssen.
- Follow Football-Oranje on Twitter
Vitesse went into the game without a win since the 2nd of March and participation in the European playoffs was under threat.
After nine minutes, Bryan Linssen put them ahead against PEC Zwolle with a header from Martin Ødegaard.
PEC Zwolle equalised through Lennart Thy in the 23rd minute and the game swung in the visitors favour when Alexander Buttner was shown a red card four minutes later. The full-back’s late tackle on Younes Namli was originally a yellow card but Bjorn Kuipers changed that to red after consulting VAR.
PEC Zwolle dominated possession but just after the break, Linssen put the home side ahead with another header. Seventeen minutes before the end it was 3-1 when Thulani Serero’s clever backheel set up Mohammed Dauda to fire past Mickey van der Hart.
Linssen then completed his hat-trick of headers to seal a strangely comfortable win for the hosts.
Vitesse stay sixth while PEC Zwolle are 12th.