FC Twente has the first victory of the Eredivisie season. Ron Jans’ team was 1-0 too strong for FC Utrecht on Saturday, after two defeats and a draw on the first three match days. That also marked the end of FC Utrecht’s unbeaten run, which until Saturday had not lost one of its last nine league matches (four wins, five draws) and was about to equal the club’s longest unbeaten run this century. Robin Pröpper scored the winning goal.
FC Twente offered excellent resistance to FC Utrecht in the first half, although the number of highlights in De Grolsch Veste could be counted on one hand. After fifteen minutes of play, the visitors were close to 0-1 when Moussa Sylla delivered the ball perfectly to the head of Anastasios Douvikas and the striker headed just wide. Goalkeeper Maarten Paes was first put to work on the other side of the field by Michel Vlap with a shot into the short corner and then with an attempt by Michal Sadílek.
Shortly before the break, Douvikas was closest to the opening goal for Utrecht with a hard swipe at the intersection. The second half was largely the same as the first. After the break it was mainly FC Utrecht that had the ball, but the result was the same: very few opportunities. After more than an hour of play, Paes narrowly prevented Dimitris Limnios from sliding into Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s ball.
After a period in which Jans and René Hake changed three times, and both Manfred Ugalde and Mimoun Mahi failed to score, the devil was literally and figuratively in the final phase. A big scuffle between Ramiz Zerrouki and Adam Maher after a tough foul by the latter resulted in the necessary yellow cards. Just before that, Hidde ter Avest had taken another ball off the goal line.
Pröpper eventually decided the game in De Grolsch Veste in extra time. The defender, who had already given FC Twente a point against Ajax with a late goal, cut Sander van der Streek out and shot the ball from a difficult corner into the top corner: 1-0. FC Twente awaits an away match against Vitesse next Sunday; FC Utrecht will face RKC Waalwijk in-house a day earlier.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSV | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 2 | Ajax | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 7 |
| 3 | FC Utrecht | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 4 | Feyenoord | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | sc Heerenveen | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | William II | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | NEC | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 6 |
| 8 | Fortuna Sittard | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | RKC Waalwijk | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | Fc Groningen | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 4 |
| 11 | FC Twente | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 4 |
| 12 | AZ | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | Go Ahead Eagles | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 14 | SC Cambuur | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 3 |
| 15 | Vitesse | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -7 | 3 |
| 16 | Heracles Almelo | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 1 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 1 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |