SC Heerenveen wins 2-3 at ADO Den Haag as Jacob Trenskow scores twice

A wet, windy evening in The Hague

SC Heerenveen won 2-3 at ADO Den Haag on 24 October in heavy rain and strong wind. ADO had beaten PSV the week before, its first league win of the season, with a winner scored in injury time, but it could not build on that result here. Heerenveen came into the match after winning three of their last four games and had been eighth before kick-off, according to AD.nl. ADO stays second-last in the table.

Trenskow and Meerveld put the visitors ahead

Both teams attacked from the first whistle and the match swung back and forth. Heerenveen struck first when Maxence Rivera delivered a low cross and Jacob Trenskow pushed the ball in, his fifth league goal of the season. Nolhan Courtens and Dylan Vente then missed good chances to extend the lead. ADO's Juho Kilo went close with a long-range shot and Matěj Šín had a bigger opening, but neither produced a goal. Early in the second half Ringo Meerveld made it 0-2 with a high, hard finish after a pass from Oliver Braude, and Meerveld had come on for the unfit Levi Smans. Head coach Robin Peter then pushed his side further forward.

ADO's comeback and late pressure

Nigel Thomas, who had come on after a shoulder injury, reduced the deficit soon after the second Heerenveen goal. ADO kept coming, and the home side came close to an equaliser before Trenskow struck again in the 66th minute. He finished from another low cross by Rivera to make it 1-3. Jalen Hawkins, Evan Rottier and Daryl van Mieghem all missed chances in the spell that followed, and a low cross from Rottier from the right was missed by several players. Thomas then tapped the ball into an empty net to make it 2-3, just before the home crowd leaned in again for the closing stages. Late on, ADO nearly conceded a 2-4 goal to Mark Farji after a slip by Pascal Mulder.

Table impact

The win was Heerenveen's second in a row. A week earlier they had beaten Excelsior 1-4, and they now move up to seventh place. ADO, who had been level on points with the teams around them after their PSV win, remain 17th of 18 and are second-last. The contrast between the two results was the story of the afternoon: ADO produced a late-chance display but could not turn pressure into points, while Heerenveen took their chances in the first half and again early in the second.