De Graafschap secured a first leg lead in their relegation/promotion play-off against MVV Maastricht.
De Graafschap take control, while Roda JC are held
De Graafschap secured a first leg lead in their relegation/promotion play-off against MVV Maastricht.
Elsewhere, Roda JC were held on their travels, Excelsior came unstuck at home and FC Zwolle secured a narrow advantage.
De Graafschap, who finished second from bottom in the Eredivisie this season, took a positive step towards preserving their top-flight status on Tuesday as they saw off
MVV Maastricht 3-2.
On-loan Chelsea striker Ben Sahar fired them in front inside the opening 60 seconds, before Stijn Wuytens doubled their lead on 34 minutes.
Five minutes later Oussama Assaidi appeared to have ended the game as a contest when he notched a third for the visitors, but MVV had other ideas.
Gideon Boateng handed them a lifeline four minutes before the interval and Gunter Thiebaut coolly converted an 80th minute penalty to ensure the second leg will be competitive.
The other Eredivisie side in action in midweek were
Roda JC, who were held 1-1 at
FC Dordrecht.
Pa Modou Kah opened the scoring on 72 minutes for the top flight outfit, but Moussa Kalisse levelled matters three minutes from time.
Excelsior Rotterdam have it all to do when they head to
RKC Waalwijk after they slipped to a 2-1 defeat on home soil.
Jeffrey Altheer broke the deadlock for Ton Lokhoff's side on 63 minutes, but the game swung in favour of their opponents once Guyon Fernandez saw red six minutes from the end.
Frank van Mosselveld grabbed an equaliser just a minute later and Anton Jongsma snatched a dramatic winner in injury-time.
The final play-off contest saw
FC Zwolle overcome
Cambuur Leeuwarden 2-1.
Albert van der Haar (19) and Roel de Graaff (58) put the home side in control, while Koen Brack stole an 88th minute consolation for Cambuur.
