Feyenoord throw away costly points against ADO Den Haag despite comeback

Feyenoord dropped very costly points against ADO Den Haag on Sunday afternoon. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side could manage no more than a 2-2 draw against the newly promoted side, who were still without a point, at De Kuip, and even had to come back from 0-2 down. Ayase Ueda and Anis Hadj Moussa at least spared them defeat with their second-half goals.

Before kick-off, Feyenoord suffered a setback. Jeremiah St. Juste pulled up injured in the warm-up, so Javi López made his first start and Mika Mármol shifted into central defence. The Rotterdam side then saw plenty of the ball and created the first opening through Gaoussou Diarra.

ADO, though, struck first in the 12th minute. Oussama Targhalline gave the ball away far too cheaply, the visitors broke at pace and Nigel Thomas fired home for 0-1. For the Rotterdam-born forward, it was his first goal of the season.

Feyenoord tried to respond and created enough chances to do it. Ueda headed wide, had a goal ruled out for offside and found himself one-on-one with Kilian Nikiema after 29 minutes, but the ADO goalkeeper denied him. Gjivai Zechiël also forced a save from Nikiema, while Feyenoord had racked up 72 per cent possession and eleven shots after 40 minutes.

For all that pressure, Feyenoord still went in behind at the break. Van Bronckhorst responded by sending on Sem Steijn for Diarra. Steijn made an instant impact and hit the post shortly after the restart from a Ueda pass. Not long after, Feyenoord took another hit.

Sekou Sylla made it 0-2 in the 53rd minute, drilling a low shot into the corner from the edge of the penalty area after a fantastic ADO move. Goalkeeper Tjark Ernst did not make a convincing impression there. For Sylla, who was born in Schiedam and is a Guinea international, it was his first Eredivisie goal for ADO.

Now Feyenoord had to throw everything at it and finally found a way back in the 62nd minute. Ueda had space in the penalty area and fired in the 1-2 from close range, after which Van Bronckhorst also brought on Shaqueel van Persie. ADO still had a huge chance to make it 1-3 through Illaijh de Ruijter, but his control let him down at the crucial moment.

At the other end, Hadj Moussa first struck the post before finally delivering in the 72nd minute. The Algerian cut in from the right and curled the ball superbly beyond Nikiema and into the net for 2-2. Feyenoord could not find a winner after that and had to settle for a hugely disappointing draw against an ADO side who had not picked up a single point before the match.