Disappointing draw for Feyenoord in Waalwijk

It quickly become clear in Waalwijk that Feyenoord still had the midweek trip to Croatia in their legs. Dick Advocaat was forced to replace João Teixeira in the first half, and he made two further changes at the beginning of the second. Bryan Linssen and Bart Nieuwkoop made way and as a result Feyenoord were hampered by a lack of creativity in the second 45, unable to trouble former Feyenoord keeper Kostas Lamprou in the home goal as they had before the break.

RKC had little penetration themselves in that first 45, but that all changed after the restart. Cyril Ngonge was given space to tee up a rasping shot, which sailed in to give the hosts the lead, leaving Justin Bijlow clutching at air. Nicolai Jørgensen cancelled that opener out past the half mark. The Dane rattled the post with his first effort, but he netted the rebound. More worryingly, he had to go off with what looked like an injury straight after the goal.

That meant Feyenoord went looking for the lead for the first time in the match with a changed formation. But when the third goal did come, it fell to the hosts rather than the visitors. On 80 minutes substitute Ola John made some space for himself on the left, placing the ball in the corner, out of Bijlow’s reach.

It left Feyenoord chasing the game, but their fight was rewarded with a second equaliser on 84 minutes. Haps was the scorer. The left back took the inside line, curling a beauty into the right-hand corner.

Unfortunately, the visitors were unable to conjure a third and so had to do with a point, which was clearly less than they wanted. That said, they have an opportunity to get back to winning ways this Thursday, when Austrian outfit Wolfsberger AC are the opponents in the second matchday of Europa League Group K at De Kuip.