Ajax suffered a painful defeat on a visit to SC Heerenveen. The score was 3-2 and that is the first loss in the competition under John van ‘t Schip. In the absolute final phase, Ajax thought they could equalize through an own goal by Sven van Beek, but it was disallowed. After VAR interference, it was decided that the ball had not crossed the line.
Knowing that AZ lost points when visiting Almere City, Ajax started the away match against Heerenveen. The team from Amsterdam came on with Carlos Forbs and Borna Sosa as replacements for the injured Devyne Rensch and Steven Bergwijn. Fortunately, Heerenveen took the lead through Pelle van Amersfoort: 1-0.
Ajax did not seem awake yet and was lucky that a free kick from Thom Haye ended up on the crossbar. In the phase that followed, the Amsterdam team became dangerous through Kristian Hlynsson (ball on the crossbar), Kenneth Taylor (long shot) and Borna Sosa (also on the crossbar). It yielded nothing and through Osame Sahraoui, Heerenveen doubled the margin before half-time: 2-0.
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Trainer John van ‘t Schip replaced the disappointing Forbs for Chuba Akpom at half-time. The attacking intentions for the second half were quickly discarded. After tinkering in Ajax’s defense, Van Amersfoort shot his second behind Ramaj: 3-0. The team from Amsterdam were helped in the saddle by an own goal from Pawel Bochniewicz.
No equalizer
A great heading opportunity for Brian Brobbey led to an exciting final fifteen minutes. This was confirmed by a tying goal for Akpom: 3-2. Ajax seemed to be at 3-3 in the absolute final phase. Defender Sven van Beek outwitted his own goalkeeper with an unfortunate ball. However, that goal was disallowed by the VAR, because in their view the ball had not completely crossed the line.
Due to the defeat, Ajax does not benefit from AZ’s draw in Almere. The Amsterdam team will play in the Conference League against FK Bodø/Glimt next Thursday (9 p.m.), after which NEC will wait in the competition in exactly a week.
Ajax line-up: Ramaj; Gooijer, Sutalo, Hato, Sosa; Henderson, Taylor, Hlynsson; Berghuis, Brobbey, Forbs (Akpom/46)