Feyenoord gains little with point in Breda

The first half at the seething Rat Verlegh Stadium was typical of the difficult season Feyenoord is going through. Initially, everything seemed fine; the team was in complete control and even took a two-goal lead through Ayase Ueda and Luciano Valente.

But Feyenoord collapsed in virtually every counterattack, allowing low-ranked and struggling NAC to strike three times before half-time. And as if the deficit wasn't bad enough, Luciano Valente was another player to drop out with an injury.

After the break, Ueda scored his second goal with a fine header to level the score, but that was all there was to it. The home team even had the best chance to score the winning goal, which meant that Feyenoord returned to Rotterdam with a disappointing result, just like last week.

In the battle for second place, Van Persie's team did manage to gain a point on Ajax (3-1 loss at FC Groningen, now five points behind), but the gap with FC Twente is now only four points and N.E.C. can close to within three points with a win on Sunday evening.

Feyenoord's next league match is at home against Excelsior on Sunday (kick-off 14:30).