Eredivisie roundup: Cambuur and Utrecht claim relieving wins, Groningen smash Excelsior

FC Utrecht - Willem II: 3-1

FC Utrecht finally claimed their second win of the season, beating Willem II 3-1 at home on Sunday.

Utrecht had the upper hand in the first half, but entered the break on equal terms with the Tilburg visitors after Maxime Delanghe made some crucial saves. French fan favourite Yoann Cathline broke the deadlock early in the second half, embarking on an adventure from his own half and finely slotting the ball into the far corner after 53 minutes.

Willem II's Jaden Slory quickly evened out the score again, matching Cathline with a dashing run and strong finish, but Cathline had the last laugh after firing a rocket into Delanghe's top corner with 15 minutes to spare. With Willem II putting all their money on a late comeback, Angel Alarcon found himself in acres of space in the final minutes and scored the decisive goal to hand Utrecht only their second win of the campaign.

PEC Zwolle - Cambuur Leeuwarden: 0-1

Thijs Jansen's heroic performance between the sticks handed Cambuur their second win of the Eredivisie season, beating PEC Zwolle 1-0.

Jansen pulled off a fabulous save just five minutes in, denying Koen Kostons an early opener with an immaculate reflex to the striker's header. Thijs Oosting, Dylan Mbayo, and Kostons again tried to beat Jansen in the first half, but the stopper had an answer to everything that came his way.

Cambuur took over in the second half, with Rafik El Arguioui showing his class with a couple of solid attempts before Nicolas Binder fired home the winner in the 83rd minute, propelling them to 12th in the table.

Telstar - ADO Den Haag: 2-2

Telstar and ADO Den Haag fought out a spicy affair in Velsen-Zuid, splitting the points in a 2-2 draw.

ADO were put in a difficult position by defender Milan Hokke, who was sent off after just 12 minutes for stopping a promising attack. Tyrone Owusu, who Hokke took down for the red card, made ADO pay the ultimate price by scoring from the ensuing free-kick.

The visitors from The Hague did not back down, however, and fought their way into the lead via Yannick Eduardo, who equalised three minutes after Owusu's opener, and Evan Rottier, who caught Ronald Koeman Jr. off his line and beat him with a smart header.

It was Tyrone Owusu's afternoon, after all, as the midfielder buried a beautiful long-range effort into Kilina Niekiema's far corner to put the final score on the board in just 37 minutes. Telstar dominated the second half but weren't clinical enough to close out the match with the full three points after aiming just two of their 21 attempts between Niekiema's posts.

Excelsior - FC Groningen: 1-5

FC Groningen continued their fine form with a smashing win in Rotterdam, beating Excelsior 5-1.

German defender Marco Rente got Groningen off to a promising start after snatching the ball from Casper Widell, whose heavy touch put Rente in a perfect position to finish past Stijn van Gassel with ease. A penalty helped Excelsior get back in the contest, with Irakli Yegoian scoring it after Jorg Schreuders' slight tug was ruled enough for a spot-kick, but the hosts didn't enter the break on level pegging, as Van Gassel misjudged a cross and fumbled it into his own goal.

Schreuders was on the receiving end of a dodgy penalty early in the second half, and Thom van Bergen stepped up to fire it down the middle. It was the big Groningen show from there, with Brynjolfur Willumsson's easy finish down the middle and Marco Rente's corner goal putting the final score at 5-1 in Kralingen.