Eredivisie wrap: Bony penalty grabs Arnheim a point

Wilfried Bony scored a second-half penalty to keep Vitesse Arnhem’s undefeated start to the Eredivisie as they drew 1-1 with Heracles.

Arnhem could have gone top of the table with a win at home but wasted a bunch of scoring chances in the first half before Heracles scored the opening goal of the game after the break.

The visitors went ahead just three minutes into the second half when Ninos Gouriye tapped in Ben Rienstra’s pass but Arnhem fought back with midfielder Marco van Ginkel earning a penalty in the 73rd minute, which Bony slotted for his fourth goal of the season.

But having had 17 scoring opportunities, including nine shots on goal, Arnhem wasted a big chance to go top of the Eredivisie ahead of Twente, who they trail by a point.

Twente, who have a game in hand, sit atop the Eredivisie standings with 15 points, followed by Arnhem on 14, while Ajax Amsterdam and Utrecht are both on 11.

Groningen were the only side to win on Saturday, scoring two goals in the last six minutes to steal a 2-1 victory away to Zwolle.

Visiting goalkeeper Luciano gifted the home side the lead in the 22nd minute after Zwolle midfielder Youness Mokhtar curled the ball towards goal from wide on the left and Groningen’s gloveman should have saved comfortably but instead fumbled the ball into the net.

But Groningen eventually made up for their Brazilian goalkeeper’s mistake with Genero Zeefuik and Michael de Leeuw scoring the goals to pull off a late comeback.

In the 84th minute, Groningen equalised after Virgil van Dijk struck Mitchell Schet’s cross towards goal with Zeefuik deflecting the shot into the net with his knee.

De Leeuw scored the winner when he headed in Maikel Kieftenbeld’s cross just ahead of Zwolle goalkeeper Leon ter Wielen in the 88th minute.

The win takes Groningen to 11th on the table, while Zwolle remain bottom with just two points from six matches.

In other Eredivisie results, RKC Waalwijk drew 1-1 with VVV Venlo, while NEC Nijmegen could only manage a 0-0 draw against Willem II.