Feyenoord scores late goal to salvage a draw against NEC
Feyenoord scored a late goal to earn themselves a draw on Saturday away against NEC in Nijmegen. Brian Priske's side came back from a 1-0 deficit in the match's closing stages.
The Rotterdammers have 10 points because of the draw. This is 11 less than league leaders PSV, who have played one match more. Feyenoord still needs to play the game against their arch-rivals Ajax. NEC has 7 points.
Priske beat NAC Breda with his team last week but lost striker Santiago Gimenez to injury for a lengthy time. Because of this, Ayase Ueda started the match. NEC has lost the last two league matches, and manager Rogier Meijer could use a win.
Ueda got the first chance of the match, but his shot was stopped by Robin Roefs. Feyenoord attacked, but they were usually not dangerous because NEC defended well, and the visitors' final pass often lacked quality.
NEC took the lead in the 34th minute. Thomas Beelen let himself get pushed off the ball too easily by Sontje Hansen, and the forward finished the chance, hitting it into the bottom left corner past goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther.
Feyenoord had to attack in the second half, which led to NEC being able to counter-attack on some occasions. Wellenreuther stopped a shot from Rober Gonzalez and saved a header from Koki Ogawa.
Priske brought on Hugo Bueno, Chris-Kevin Nadje, and Anis Hadj-Moussa and also replaced Igor Paixao with Julian Carranza in the closing stages. Still, the changes did not lead to the team creating many chances.
Roefs saved a header from David Hancko in the closing stages, but he made a mistake with a shot from Hadj-Moussa a short while later, which Jordan Lotomba pounced on to score the equalizer. The Rotterdammers were fortunate to draw as Ogawa headed an effort onto the post in injury time.
Lotomba's goal ensured that Feyenoord equaled a club record by going 26 matches undefeated, but they are getting further away from PSV every week.
Reporting by ANP