Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 8:35 PM• Chris Meijer • Last update: 20:45

FC Utrecht remains the number three in the Eredivisie for the time being. The team of coach René Hake won 2-1 against sc Heerenveen in their own stadium on Saturday evening, thanks to a good header from Sander van de Streek in the final phase of the game. Where the Domstedelingen continue to follow in the footsteps of Ajax and PSV and extend the lead over Willem II, Feyenoord and Vitesse (two latter clubs have played fewer matches), Heerenveen threatens to lose the connection with the sub-top: the Frisians currently occupy the eighth position. place, with thirteen points from ten games.

Utrecht took office with three changes compared to the 5-1 lost match against AZ last week: Moussa Sylla, Othman Boussaid and Quinten Timber were preferred over Van de Streek, Joris van Overeem and Mimoun Mahi, although the latter was struggling with an injury . Henk Veerman was the big absentee in the starting eleven at Heerenveen. “Henk has been ill, but we are also less satisfied at the moment,” said Heerenveen trainer Johnny Jansen in conversation with ESPN. “I just expect more from Henk at the moment, in a general sense.”

The first big chance came after just under fifteen minutes of play for Utrecht, when a bet by Bart Ramselaar was removed from the line by Rami Kaib. Almost ten minutes later it was done. Django Warmerdam found Sylla within the penalty area, after which the attacker was given the space to control, shoot the ball behind goalkeeper Xavier Mous and put Utrecht ahead. That lead did not stay on the scoreboard for long, because 120 seconds later, the equalizer was already in the net on the other side.

Milan van Ewijk entered the penalty area on the right side of the field and saw his cross at the near post being worked behind his own goalkeeper Maarten Paes by Willem Janssen. At the end of the first half, the best opportunities via Arjen van der Heide and Anthony Musaba were still for Heerenveen, but the highlights were few after the break. Where Utrecht slightly had the initiative, Heerenveen handed out a spendenpje via a shot by Tibor Halilovic.

With more than fifteen minutes to play, Jansen brought Henk Veerman into the field and the striker soon had a good shooting opportunity. Shortly after his substitute, however, Utrecht took the lead. A pass from substitute Hidde ter Avest was nicely headed against the ropes by Van de Streek, who also came in for substitute. Heerenveen was unable to repair that damage in the last ten minutes, making Utrecht the number three in the Eredivisie with twenty points from ten matches. Willem II (eighteen points), Feyenoord (sixteen points, two games less) and Vitesse (sixteen points, one game less) follow behind.

No. Team m W G V +/- Pnt
1 Ajax 9 7 1 1 30 22
2 PSV 9 7 0 2 10 21
3 FC Utrecht 10 6 2 2 10 20
4 William II 10 5 3 2 2 18
5 Feyenoord 8 5 1 2 11 16
6 Vitesse 9 5 1 3 -6 16
7 FC Twente 9 4 3 2 4 15
8 sc Heerenveen 10 4 1 5 -4 13
9 AZ 8 4 0 4 6 12
10 SC Cambuur 9 4 0 5 -6 12
11 NEC 9 3 2 4 -6 11
12 Heracles Almelo 8 3 1 4 -3 10
13 Go Ahead Eagles 9 3 1 5 -7 10
14 Fortuna Sittard 9 2 3 4 -8 9
15 RKC Waalwijk 9 1 4 4 -3 7
16 Fc Groningen 9 1 4 4 -7 7
17 Sparta Rotterdam 9 1 4 4 -9 7
18 PEC Zwolle 9 0 1 8 -14 1