Telstar vs Excelsior: Draw After Penalty Misses

Telstar and Excelsior, numbers seventeen and sixteen in the Premier League, kept each other in balance in Velsen-Zuid. The home team quickly took a 2-0 lead, but saw the Rotterdam team come alongside in a match in which three penalties were awarded, but only one was used.

Telstar awaits duels with many opponents from the left row in the coming weeks and could use a good result against another tail team. And that was visible in the early stages of the match.

The hosts immediately worked energetically and that led to a goal within two minutes. Patrick Brouwer came through well on the right and found Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp, who slid the ball behind Stijn van Gassel: 1-0.

The Excelsior goalkeeper had a good eye on Tyrone Owusu’s shot, while colleague Ronald Koeman was ready on the other side when Szymon Wlodarczyk scored from close range.

Brouwer missed the chance to make it 2-0 a little later, when he suddenly found himself in front of an open goal and the ball did not hit the ball. After yet another loss of ball by Excelsior in midfield, he made up for this with a pass to Owusu, who did manage to finish coolly.

Shortly before half-time, Excelsior got away with a header from Mathijs Tielemans, which Koeman cleverly tapped over the bar. However, with the corner kick that followed, Jeff Hardeveld also extended a hand: a penalty for Excelsior, although referee Martin van den Kerkhof first seemed to whistle for a Rotterdam violation. Arthur Zagré executed the verdict: 2-1.

The second half was only seventeen seconds old when the home crowd jumped to their feet and cheered. However, Milan Zonneveld’s shot, successful three times in the cup match with FC Lisse (0-5) on Wednesday, had ended up in the side netting. The same fate befell a slider from Hardeveld.

The net did not move at all for Danny Bakker’s shot, although he had an excellent opportunity: from the penalty spot. The ball had ended up there after a foul by Rick Meissen, who was too late and knocked out Ritmeester van de Kamp with a sliding slide. Bakker had set his sights far too high.

That was not the end of the penalty kick chapter. Excelsior also got one, again after a handball, this time from Tyrese Noslin who blocked a cross from substitute Jerolldino Bergraaf. Zagré again took care of the job, but this time he pushed the ball wide.

The Rotterdam sadness was short-lived. After good preparatory work by Derensili Sanches Fernandes, Gyan de Regt scored with a hard but well-placed goal: 2-2.

Excelsior had the equalizer it was looking for, but the team from Kralingen actually wanted more. With all the risk that entails: in the counter Soufiane Hetli almost hit the target and Kay Tejan also had some nice scoring chances. It seemed like three times would be a charm for the substitute, but he was offside with the late goal.