FC Twente also won their sixth home game of the season. This time, mid-tier RKC Waalwijk was the victim, starring Sem Steijn for the home side: 3-0.

The 20-year-old attacking midfielder arrived from ADO Den Haag last summer and made his second start at base.

He also played against FC Volendam at the end of August, but then Steijn was eliminated at half-time with a concussion. As a result, he was out for a while.

Rock has to go

After coming off the bench against Vitesse, FC Groningen and last week against SC Cambuur, Steijn was given an early chance by coach Ron Jans. That was at the expense of Daan Rots.

Steijn, watched from the stands by father and Sparta coach Maurice, drew attention before half-time for his involvement in three goals, two of which counted.

First he put his hands on Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s goal, which canceled the 1-0 on the advice of VAR.

Steijn therefore did not let himself be out of the field and scored the first Twente goal (1-0) after 34 minutes on a pass from Vaclav Cerny.

He even made it 2-0 just before the break. After preliminary work from left-back Gijs Smal, Steijn slammed the ball into the goal roof. Shortly before, Michel Vlap had missed twice in a promising position.

The second half was less fun. Twente were a bit disappointing and RKC lacked the quality to ease the tension. Substitute Zakaria Bakkali had two chances, but shot just wide of the goal.

Exchange

Steijn was pulled aside in the middle of the second company and had to give way to the more defensive Mathias Kjølø. A tactical intervention by Jans, who wanted to achieve something with it.

Twente recovered a bit after that. A Rots free-kick sailed wide and an attempt from Kjølø went wide. Shortly before the end, Van Wolfswinkel made it 3-0 and secured their place in the middle.

Next week Twente will play Go Ahead Eagles again at home. After that, the team from Enschede will close the first half of the season with a game against Sparta.