Late rally earns Roda JC victory

Everton Ramos da Silva put the visitors ahead in the opening 10 minutes and they looked set to hold onto that lead until Roda's late rally. First defender Davy de Fauw fired in an equaliser and, although Anouar Hadouir missed a penalty, Marcel de Jong spared his blushes with a neat finish two minutes from time. Heracles were looking to close the seven-point gap to Feyenoord in fourth and they got off to the best possible start when Everton headed in a corner at the near post. The first half was a drab affair until Hadouir came close to levelling on the stroke of half-time with a shot from the edge of the area that was well saved by Martin Pieckenhagen. Roda firmly gained the ascendancy after the break and Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo was unlucky with a bicycle kick from a Mads Junker cross that flew just wide of the right-hand post. The striker had another chance just after the hour mark and he possibly should have done better after a Hadouir cross picked him out unmarked in the area but Pieckenhagen pulled off a good save. There was nothing the goalkeeper could do in the 75th minute, though, as Hadouir's cross was not properly cleared and De Fauw rifled the ball into the net. Roda had a golden chance to win it with seven minutes left when they were awarded a penalty but Hadouir blazed over the crossbar. However, they were not made to rue that miss as Matondo's cross picked out De Jong and he found the net through the goalkeeper's legs.