Feyenoord beat AZ with a dramatic late winner; Heerenveen win the derby
Feyenoord beat their closest rivals in the league table on Saturday evening in de Kuip. Arne Slot’s side went behind due to an own goal by Javairo Dilrosun before completing a comeback in the 90th minute with a late Marcus Pedersen winner. Heerenveen beat SC Cambuur on Sunday in the derby match.
AZ took the lead after 17 minutes. A corner was inadvertently headed into his own net byJavairo Dilrosun. But Feyenoord leveled the match in injury time of the first half. Oussama Idrissi crossed for ex-AZ player Alireza Jahanbaksch who headed into the far corner to hurt his former side. There were questions about the legitimacy of the goal as replays showed that Pedersen may have handled the ball in the build-up to the goal.
But there were no doubts about Pedersen’s late winner. Paixao’s corner was headed clear to the full-back, who seemed to throw his weaker foot at the ball in a hit-and-hope attempt which flew into the far corner with the help of a deflection from AZ winger Jesper Karlsson.
AZ dropped to third after the loss, with Ajax overtaking them and now two points ahead. Feyenoord remains top of the league with a three-point lead over the Amsterdammers and five points ahead of AZ.
Heerenveen defeated SC Cambuur in the derby on Sunday. The smoke from the fireworks accompanying the players onto the field had not even cleared when Cambuur took an early lead. Mats Kohlert lost the ball to Michael Breij, who crossed it for the Norwegian Bjorn Johnson, who had a ton to do to get the ball into the net but did it beautifully with a volley with his leg around the defender.
Heerenveen equalized in the 22nd minute through another Norwegian player Osame Sahraoui. The ball landed perfectly for Sahraoui in the box, who didn’t hesitate to smash it high into the Cambuur net. Heerenveen scored the winner in the 65th minute after a goalmouth scramble. After the ball had bounced back off the crossbar, Milan van Ewijk overhead kicked the ball, which a Cambuur defender cleared after it had already crossed the goal line.
FC Volendam’s good form continued with a massive win over Vitesse. Daryl van Mieghem scored twice to give Volendam a three-point lead over FC Emmen, who are in the relegation playoff spot.