Robin van Persie, who faced the team he debuted for as a manager, handed right-back Givairo Read his second start of the season after fully recovering from an injury. Gijs Smal got the nod over Jordan Bos at left-back after the latter's extensive travel between Australia and Rotterdam.
The home side quickly took control of the game and thought they'd gone up within ten minutes, were it not for Ayase Ueda being flagged for offside. Feyenoord star Anis Hadj Moussa took Heerenveen stopper Bernt Klaverboer under fire shortly after, but did not get Feyenoord up one yet.
The Algerian crowd favourite finally beat Klaverboer after 42 minutes when he received a nifty backheel pass from Read and calmly put the ball in the corner.
Hadj Moussa had the Rotterdam crowd on their feet with a dazzling bit of gallery play before delivering a perfect cross for Leo Sauer to put the ball in the net at the back post, but VAR ruled the goal out for an offside infringement.
A tame start to the second half was interrupted by Hadj Moussa after ten minutes. The Algerian winger committed a reckless foul on Vasilios Zagaritis after the ball had gotten far out of reach, and Hadj Moussa was sent off after the VAR instructed referee Robin Hensgens to take a further look.
Against ten men, Heerenveen tried to take over and create chances, but were instead forced to continue with ten men, too, after Hristiyan Petrov got a questionable second red card for an alleged foul on Ayase Ueda.
.Heerenveen finally came close to an equaliser when Bart Nieuwkoop didn't think a header through and gave striker Dylan Vente the ball in the box, but the Surinamese international could not profit from Nieuwkoop's mistake.
The match was temporarily stopped in the 78th minute when referee Hensgens had to change his shorts after a rare wardrobe malfunction for the official.
The never-ending goalkeeper saga at Feyenoord seemed to get another chapter after a collision between Timon Wellenreuther and centre-half Anel Ahmedhodzic, but the former was able to continue with a sore torso.
An extra fourteen minutes could not save Heerenveen, who came agonisingly close when Vente put the ball slightly wide of Wellenreuther's post. The Frisians were forced to swallow their third defeat of the young season and were kept waiting for their first win after a 1-0 loss against Feyenoord, who won their fourth consecutive Eredivisie game.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Givairo Read (Feyenoord)
View all match statistics on Flashscore.
