SC Heerenveen produced one of the comebacks of the Dutch season on Sunday, recovering from two goals down to beat Feyenoord 5-3 in a remarkable eight-goal match at the Abe Lenstra Stadion.

Substitute Ringo Meerveld was the hero, scoring a second-half hat-trick after being left out of the starting line-up, as Heerenveen recorded a fourth consecutive league win and inflicted a first Eredivisie defeat of the season on Feyenoord.

The defeat ended Feyenoord's unbeaten start to the campaign and a run of 11 league games without a loss. It was only the second time this century that the Rotterdam club have lost an Eredivisie match after leading by two goals, in front of a crowd of 23,041.

Feyenoord looked comfortable early on. Anis Hadj-Moussa opened the scoring in the 25th minute, cutting inside onto his left foot and curling a shot into the top-left corner after a counter-attack carried forward by Mika Marmol and Nacho Ferri. It was the winger's seventh league goal of the season in 11 appearances.

Six minutes later the visitors doubled their lead from the penalty spot. Givairo Read's cross struck the arm of Vasilios Zagaritis as the defender slid in, and referee Danny Makkelie pointed to the spot on his assistant's recommendation after initially appearing to award a corner. Ferri converted for his sixth league goal of the campaign, as Heerenveen's angry protests earned manager Robin Veldman a yellow card.

Heerenveen found their way back either side of half-time. Centre-back Maas Willemsen reacted first to a scramble from a corner just before the interval, and two minutes into the second half Levi Smans levelled at 2-2 with a shot that took a heavy deflection off Tsuyoshi Watanabe and wrong-footed goalkeeper Tjark Ernst.

The afternoon then belonged to Meerveld. His first goal came in the 61st minute and put Heerenveen 3-2 ahead, and his celebration made the subplot public: after weeks frustrated at losing his starting place, he turned towards Veldman and pointed a finger to his ear.

Feyenoord were not finished. In the 69th minute Ferri set up substitute Sem Steijn, who beat Bernt Klaverboer to make it 3-3. It was Steijn's third league goal in six appearances and Ferri's second assist of the day, and Feyenoord have now scored in each of their last 12 league games.

But the closing stages belonged to Meerveld. In the 84th minute Jacob Trenskow found him and he sent a low right-footed shot beyond Ernst to restore the lead at 4-3. Then, in stoppage time, Ernst parried Luca Oyen's effort and Meerveld was waiting at the edge of the six-yard box to tuck the rebound away with his left foot and complete his hat-trick.

The three goals took Meerveld to five in the league this season from 12 appearances. "I say this in every interview: if we reach our level and have a good plan, we can beat anyone," he said afterwards.

The numbers show the comeback was no accident. Heerenveen had 54 percent of the ball and took 18 shots to Feyenoord's nine, testing Ernst nine times while Feyenoord managed three shots on target. Remarkably, Feyenoord scored with all three of their efforts on target and still lost.

"If we go 2-0 up, we must never lose a match like that again," Ferri said afterwards. Feyenoord are now three league games without a win, and the scrutiny is turning on manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst and goalkeeper Ernst, with the title race thrown open for Ajax and PSV.

Feyenoord stay second on 25 points, but the aura of an unbeaten side has gone. Heerenveen sit sixth on 21 points, and Veldman now has a player in Meerveld who has made his selection decisions considerably harder.