Almere City’s debut in the Eredivisie ended in a 4-1 defeat by Twente Enschede thanks to two late goals by veteran striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

It took an hour for Twente to break down Almere’s resistance in front of a 4,000 capacity crowd in the Yanmar Stadium, but two goals in seven minutes by Robin Pröpper and Michel Vlap looked to have secured the points.

Substitute Danny Post scored Almere’s first Eredivisie goal after 72 minutes to revive the home side’s hopes, until Van Wolfswinkel came off the bench to bag two goals in injury time.

Excelsior claimed the most dramatic win of the weekend as they came back from 3-2 down against NEC to win 4-3. Swedish winger Oscar Üddendas became an instant hero by smashing in the decisive goal in the 10th minute of injury time on his debut.

Champions Feyenoord had an early stumble as they drew 0-0 with Fortuna Sittard in De Kuip, after being reduced to 10 men after 25 minutes when Bart Nieuwkoop was dismissed for stamping on Iñigo Córdoba.

AZ Alkmaar had the biggest win of the opening weekend, with 19-year-old debutant Ruben van Bommel, the son of former national team captain Mark, notching a goal and an assist on his debut as Go Ahead Eagles were swept aside 5-1.

Ajax, PSV win

Ajax came back from 1-0 down against Heracles to beat the newcomers 4-1, but suffered a setback when goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli was stretchered off after half an hour following a collision with Jizz Hornkamp. Dutch media reported Rulli suffered a shoulder injury and could be out of action for several months.

PSV managed a workmanlike 2-0 win over Utrecht in new coach Peter Bosz’s first league match in charge, with new signing Noa Lang and Belgian Yorbe Vertessen providing the goals.

Heerenveen showed they could score goals without Sydney van Hooijdonk as Moldovan poacher Ion Nicolaescu marked his debut with the opening goal after 20 minutes in a 3-1 victory against RKC.

Sparta’s first match since coach Maurice Steijn left for Ajax was a hard-fought 2-1 win against newly promoted PEC Zwolle, while Vitesse kicked off the league season on Friday by beating Volendam 2-1.

Results

Friday

Volendam 1-2 Vitesse Arnhem

Saturday

Ajax 4-1 Heracles

Heerenveen 3-1 RKC

PSV 2-0 Utrecht

Sunday

Almere City 1-4 Twente Enschede

AZ Alkmaar 5-1 Go Ahead Eagles

Feyenoord 0-0 Fortuna Sittard

NEC Nijmegen 3-4 Excelsior