Narrow home win AZ at sc Heerenveen: 2-1

AZ has won 2-1 against sc Heerenveen at home. Pascal Jansen’s team strengthened its fifth place in the Eredivisie with the narrow victory and has a view to a direct ticket for European football. The gap to FC Twente, the number 4 in the standings, is 3 points.

The defeat was bad for Heerenveen. The team of coach Ole Tobiasen still hopes for a place in the play-offs for European football, but that is now becoming an almost impossible task.

AZ fell behind early on through a goal by the accurate Swedish attacker Amin Sarr. The home team then pushed to make up the deficit and also became more menacing. The equalizer came on the stroke of half-time. Jesper Karlsson tapped a razor-sharp cross from Fredrik Midtsjø behind goalkeeper Erwin Mulder. It was his fifteenth league goal.

In the second half, AZ kept insisting and Heerenveen was also dangerous with few outbursts. AZ only scored the winning goal in the final phase. After a smooth combination, Sam Beukema passed Tijjani Reijnders, who scored flawlessly. Arjen van der Heide almost equalized for Heerenveen in injury time, but his shot hit the post.