Bielica shines as NAC Breda hold Utrecht | OneFootball

NAC Breda 1-1 Utrecht at Rat Verlegh Stadion, a result that drops the visitors to eighth and leaves the hosts 17th in the Eredivisie.

In the 20th minute, Raul Paula swept a low finish into the bottom corner from the left, after a corner routine and a neat lay-off by Juho Talvitie. Dani de Wit levelled with a glancing header from Souffian El Karouani's cross (26.).

After the restart, Daniel Bielica kept NAC in it with sharp stops, thwarting Yoann Cathline (67.) and then Sébastien Haller at the near post (69.). He later pushed away a Haller header and turned aside Victor Jensen's drive as Utrecht pressed.

Kamal Sowah drew a smart save from Vasilis Barkas (66.). After a triple change, Mohamed Nassoh teed up Brahim Ghalidi, who fired over (77.), before Barkas clawed out Cherrion Valerius's close-range header in the third minute of second half stoppage time. Rio Hillen then dragged a late chance wide in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time.

NAC Breda tallied 16 attempts and controlled 56.3% of the ball. Utrecht worked Bielica regularly, registering six efforts on target from 11 attempts.

NAC Breda host Telstar next. Utrecht visit TOP Oss in the KNVB Beker before returning to league duty.