FC Twente has won the duel in the sub-top of the Eredivisie with SC Cambuur with 1-0. Robin Pröpper took care of the winning goal in De Grolsch Veste and celebrated it by holding up the captain’s armband in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, visibly emotional. After the victory at number eight Cambuur, Twente comes in fifth place in points equal to AZ, although the Alkmaarders will play against NEC later in the afternoon.
At Twente, Pröpper returned to the starting eleven, while Henk de Jong made three changes to his team at Cambuur: Doke Schmidt, Mees Hoedemakers and Patrick Joosten missed the kick-off for various reasons and were replaced by Jasper ter Heide, Mitchel Paulissen and David Sambissa . Cambuur’s changed team had a difficult time in Enschede in the first half. The best chances for half time were through Michel Vlap, Julio Pleguezuelo and Daan Rots for Twente, but thanks in part to goalkeeper Sonny Stevens, Cambuur got through the first 45 minutes without a goal against.
De Jong intervened in the break by taking Sambissa and Calvin Mac-Intosch to the side for Marco Tol and Joosten. Partly because of this, Cambuur came out of the dressing room a bit better and the game waved up and down in the first phase of the second half. With 63 minutes on the clock, the ban was broken by Twente. Pröpper received the ball from a corner for the shot, scored his fifth goal of the season and celebrated it by showing the captain’s armband in the colors of the Ukrainian flag with visible emotion.
For Cambuur it was already the ninth goal against from a corner and the goal seemed to snap the visitors. After Stevens had prevented another goal from Ricky van Wolfswinkel, the ball went on the spot fifteen minutes before the end. Referee Sander van der Eijk initially allowed play to continue when Mitchel Paulissen Michel Vlap worked his way to the ground within the penalty area. After Joshua Brenet shot wide, Van der Eijk still whistled for a penalty. That was then missed: Van Wolfswinkel hit the post, after which Pröpper worked the rebound wide.
It turned out that Stevens had been injured during the missed penalty, because the Cambuur goalkeeper had to be replaced by Pieter Bos immediately afterwards. The visitors from Leeuwarden were close to a goal once more in the end: a cross went just over Joosten’s head in the penalty area. Partly because of this, there was no change in the 1-0 score.
| No. | Team | M | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSV | 25 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 58 |
| 2 | Ajax | 24 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 64 | 57 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 25 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 34 | 52 |
| 4 | THE | 24 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 48 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 25 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 48 |
| 6 | Speed | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | -6 | 40 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 25 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 40 |
| 8 | SC Cambuur | 25 | 10 | 3 | 12 | -11 | 33 |
| 9 | NEC | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | -7 | 31 |
| 10 | Fc Groningen | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | -5 | 30 |
| 11 | Go Ahead Eagles | 25 | 7 | 6 | 12 | -15 | 27 |
| 12 | Heracles Almelo | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 26 |
| 13 | sc Heerenveen | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | -14 | 26 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | -13 | 23 |
| 15 | Willem II | 25 | 6 | 4 | 15 | -22 | 22 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 23 | 5 | 4 | 14 | -27 | 19 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 23 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -19 | 17 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -21 | 17 |
