HFC Haarlem beat Koninklijke HFC 3:1 in the opening match of the Tweede Divisie regular season on Saturday at the Jan van Dijk Stadion. M. Fichtinger opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and R. de Poorter added two goals just before the interval to put the hosts in control. T. Boere pulled one back for the visitors with a penalty after the break, but N. Aelterman's late effort confirmed the result.
The home side took advantage of a penalty opportunity in the thirty-second minute to break the deadlock, with Fichtinger converting from the spot. De Poorter then struck twice in quick succession before the changing rooms, netting in the forty-fifth and forty-fifth-plus-three minutes to give Haarlem a commanding lead.
Koninklijke HFC responded after the restart when Boere was awarded a penalty in the fifty-fourth minute and made no mistake from the spot. However, the visitors could only manage to score one more goal through Aelterman in the seventy-third minute, and the deficit proved too large to overcome.
The statistics showed little separation between the sides, with both teams recording 0.5 possession. Haarlem registered ten shots on target compared to five for the visitors, though attacks were roughly even at 87 and 89 respectively. Both sides received two yellow cards during the contest.
Haarlem moved to twelfth place with four points from four games, while Koninklijke HFC remain thirteenth on the same tally. The result ended the visitors' hopes of an early positive start, having lost their previous fixture 1:0 to ADO '20.