Saturday, May 8, 2021 at 8:44 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 20:55

SC Heerenveen and FC Utrecht shared the points in a moderate match on Saturday evening: 0-0. Both teams were unable to break through the opponent’s defensive wall, which led to an unpleasant spectacle. Benjamin Nygren thought to decide the game in stoppage time in favor of the Frisians, but his goal was called back by referee Pol van Boekel for a foul. The points division has no consequences for the ranking. Utrecht remains sixth, while Heerenveen has to settle for eleventh place. With a victory, Heerenveen had a serious chance of participating in the play-offs for European football.

Judging from the statistics, Utrecht seemed to have a fairly easy evening in Heerenveen, as René Hake’s team remained unbeaten in the last ten games and managed to score in the last sixteen games. This time the Domstedelingen had considerably more trouble and it was Heerenveen that had a slight field predominance in the first company. This did not yield very big chances for Johnny Jansen’s team. The first time that the Frisians turned up dangerously in front of Eric Oelschlägel’s goal was five minutes before half time, when Siem de Jong tried to find the left corner with a shot. His attempt ended with the German goalie.

On the other hand, Sander van de Streek was close to the opening goal. The midfielder was served on the edge of the penalty area and lashed out, but hit the left post with his attempt. The same Van de Streek was also the man with the greatest chance in the second half, but this time he found Mulder’s feet. Just before that, Jansen hoped to turn the game around with the input of Henk Veerman and Joey Veerman, who both started on the bench. The moments of excitement for the goals, however, remained on one hand. Both teams looked unconcentrated and suffered a lot of ball loss. The moments when it threatened to become dangerous, ended in the final phase.

The best opportunities were kept until the final phase, when Mitchell van Bergen seemed to give Heerenveen the victory after all. The winger was ready to finish at the far post after a cross by Lucas Woudenberg, but found the legs of Oelschlägel in front of an empty goal, who kept his team in the game. Utrecht itself, however, never came out and saw how the latest achievement was credited to Rami Hajal. The substitute accidentally got the ball in front of his feet and tried from about twenty meters, but saw his shot go a few meters wide of the goal. With that, a very disappointing game ended in a scoreless split.