Telstar’s goalkeeper Ronald Koeman Jr scored a late penalty to ensure the tiny club from Velsen-Zuid will play in next season’s Eredivisie, as they won their relegation showdown at Voldendam.
Telstar, who won promotion for the first time In 47 years last season, got off to a dream start when Anthony Descotte fired them ahead after two minutes of the fishermen’s derby.
Danny Bakker headed in an equaliser for the home team from Jeff Hardeveld’s cross to leave the match back in the balance, with Telstar needing at least a point to finish ahead of their opponents.
Volendam had the lion’s share of the chances as they pressed for the winner that would take them above Telstar, but two minutes from the end Yannick Leliendal was penalised for a foul at the other end and the national team coach’s son ran upfield to put away the spot-kick and send the travelling fans into raptures.
Volendam now face a two-legged play-off for survival against Willem II, who beat Almere City over two legs for the chance to challenge for promotion.
Elsewhere NEC capped their outstanding season by beating Go Ahead Eagles to clinch third place in the league and a place in the Champions League play-off rounds, ahead of Twente Enschede and Ajax.
Noé Lebreton scored both goals, heading in from a corner after 12 minutes and smacking in a rebound a quarter of an hour later after his initial shot hit the post. Soren Tengstedt pulled one back for Go Ahead, but NEC held out against a team who were playing solely for bragging rights.
PSV go ton up
Twente, who started the day in third place, started brightly against champions-elect PSV, and despite going behind to Ryan Flamingo’s header they quickly equalized through Sondje Orjastaeter as they chased the result they needed to stay ahead of NEC.
But PSV restored their advantage through Noah Fernandez and turned on the power in the second half as Dennis Man, Gus Til and Ricardo Pepi with a penalty ensured Peter Bosz’s team crowned a title-winning season with 100 goals for the third year in a row.
Twente’s defeat gave Ajax the chance to sneak past them into fourth spot and a place in the Europa League play-off rounds, but the Amsterdammers’ washout of a season ended with a 0-0 draw in rain-drenched Heerenveen.
Ajax now face Groningen on Thursday evening in the semi-finals of the Conference League play-offs, after the northerners won their final league match of the season 2-1 away to bottom club Heracles.
The match will be played in Volendam because the Amsterdam Arena has already been booked for a concert by singer Harry Styles.
Heerenveen in play-offs
In the other semi-final, Heerenveen will travel to Utrecht, who closed their season with a 2-0 win at home to Fortuna Sittard with goals from Dani de Wit and second-half substitute David Min.
Utrecht moved up one place at the expense of cup winners AZ, who let a 2-0 lead slip against relegated NAC but salvaged a point with a late equaliser by Mexx Meerdink.
Sparta started the day needing to beat Excelsior at home in the Rotterdam derby and hope Groningen collapsed in Almelo, but failed to fulfil their share of the bargain as they lost 3-2. Noah Naujoks scored the decisive goal for Sparta, while Milan Zonneveld had the ball in the net for Sparta but was denied an equaliser for handball.
Feyenoord won their final game of the season at PEC Zwolle with two goals by Anis Hadj Moussa, in a match where the league’s top scorer Ayase Ueda made way for Casper Tengstedt. PEC Zwolle finished 15th, behind Telstar on goal difference, but were already safe going into the final round of matches.
Results
Sunday
AZ Alkmaar 3-3 NAC Breda
Heerenveen 0-0 Ajax
Heracles 1-2 Groningen
NEC Nijmegen 2-1 Go Ahead Eagles
PEC Zwolle 0-2 Feyenoord
PSV Eindhoven 5-1 Twente Enschede
Sparta Rotterdam 2-3 Excelsior
Utrecht 2-0 Fortuna Sittard
Volendam 1-2 Telstar
