FC Utrecht's solid start to their Eredivisie campaign continued as they picked up a point from a tricky away encounter at NEC Nijmegen.
Coming into the match on the back of five wins and just one defeat in their opening seven games, Utrecht had the chance to move into fourth place with a win and were on target to achieve just that when Jacob Lensky netted the opener after 33 minutes.
However, NEC are no pushovers - as shown by their recent away win at champions AZ ! Alkmaar - and fought back to rescue a point through Erton Fejzullahu's 66th-minute effort.
Utrecht were immediately on the front foot after kick-off, just 43 seconds on the clock when Ricky van Wolfswinkel drew a smart stop from Gabor Babos after being played in by Dries Mertens.
Michael Silberbauer also took aim after 17 minutes but this time Babos made a routine save, while 10 minutes later the hosts carved out their first chance of the night when Dominique Kivuvu played in Bjorn Vleminckx, whose 25-yard effort was tipped to safety by the alert Michel Vorm in the Utrecht goal.
Utrecht went ahead just after the half-hour when the NEC defence failed to clear their lines after a corner. The ball fell to Van Wolfswinkel, who laid the ball into the path of Lensky to hit a low shot from just outside the area that Babos should perhaps have kept at bay.
Jacob Mulenga spurned an opening to make it 2-0 when he scooped an effort over the bar from inside t! he box after 54 minutes, while at the other end, Vorm had to b! e on his toes to deny Moestafa El Kabir.
The Utrecht keeper had no answer when NEC attacked again after 66 minutes, however, Arkadiusz Radomski's cross landing perfectly for Fejzullahu who gave Vorm no chance with a powerful effort from the edge of the area.
And the Sweden Under-21 international might have claimed all the points for the home side 11 minutes from time when he connected with Youssef El Akchaoui's cross but saw his effort come back off the post, while Vorm recovered quickly to deny Fejzullahu again with a fine save from the rebound.
